(dis)engage

Jeffrey Tucker can be really good:

Thus says the Economist: So many foreigners are down on the US that polls reveal that we are wondering "What's the point...of engaging with such people?... Many Americans wish to disengage from the world in one or more of four ways: by fighting fewer wars, by trading less freely, by allowing fewer foreigners into their country or by giving less foreign aid."

Now, this is just strange language and a crazy mix of radically different behaviors. Let's reduce this to the level of a single neighborhood to see just how strange. The Smiths live next to the Joneses. The Smiths are beginning to think that they should disengage from the Joneses. For example, the Smiths might stop breaking into the Jones' house and ransacking the place. They might stop loaning and borrowing sugar. They might stop inviting them to dinner. And they might stop robbing others and putting the loot in the Jones' mailbox.

Read the rest.