Waging war, cold war, isolationism, nation building here at home, populism, leading from behind: all are buzz words or phrases intent on uniting America.

Because we are a great power, we have great problems. According to Alan W. Dowd in Legion Magazine, 57 percent of us want the U.S. to deal with its own problems and let the rest of the world get along as best they can. Is it time for us to take a much-deserved break from policing the world?

Brookings Institutes Robert Kagan observes, “Americans, Europeans and other children of the Enlightenment tend to believe history has a direction, progres...