The Pew Research Center just released its quadrennial survey of U.S. public opinion on global engagement (link below). Sadly, the largest percentage of respondents in 50 years (54 percent) believes "the United States should mind its own business internationally." Sure, it's essential these days to know when, where and how best to engage or, more important, not to engage. We would benefit from greater discernment and dexterity in all our international involvements, since we can and should no longer try to do it all.
Still, it's simply not possible for the U.S. to mind its own business - whatever that means - in today's interdependent global economy. The world is our business (and vice versa) and we must continue to stifle these isolationist instincts and be more curious about the world around us. The once-rigid lines between foreign and domestic policy have blurred almost beyond the point of distinction, a claim that would frustrate the 80 percent of survey respondents who believe the U.S. should address domestic challenges ahead of international ones.
The public offers some hope here, in seemingly contradictory fashion, since 56 percent of them also reject the idea that "the United States should go its own way in the world." We couldn't go our own way in the world even if it was possible to do so. Indeed, the best way to protect ourselves against terrorism and other threats is to achieve the right balance of soft and hard power when and where it matters most and, yes, to mind our own business when it comes to other, less vital interests.
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http://www.people-press.org/2013/12/03/public-sees-u-s-power-declining-as-support-for-global-engagement-slips/