Why America’s Withdrawal Won’t Make It Stronger
America isn’t retreating on the world stage by accident. It’s echoing a deeper crisis: an internal implosion of cultural confidence that has left the country squabbling over who it is and what it stands for. Even after the traumas of World War I, the U.S. regained an outward focus by World War II. Today, that pivot outward is hampered by partisan fatigue, social-media tribalism, and eroding unity. Ronald Reagan once described America as a “shining city on a hill,” built not by ethnicity or lineage but by shared ideals....