The US is and probably always will be deeply isolationistic at its core. Conservatives at present claim that history – a recent reclaim from the liberals. Suddenly, we remember that Washington counseled against ‘foreign entanglements’. Not so suddenly, we decry the notion of being the world’s policeman. We have our own problems at home and we just want the world to go away.

I say to my conservative brothers the same thing I said to our liberal, er, whatever their pronoun of the week is – GROW UP.

We ARE the world’s policeman for two reasons: we carved out the role for ourselves and no other nation on Earth is even remotely capable of doing the job. We got ourselves into this mess and there is no quick way to morally get ourselves out – whether or not it’s wise to do so we’ll leave for another day.

The US is one of a precious few nations which is food independent. Translation: we don’t need to import food to feed our entire population – we can feed all 327+ million without any help at all. Sure, we won’t have as many out of season fresh blueberries but no one need go to bed hungry because there’s no bread to be had. Most nations aren’t so lucky – their populations have either outstripped their food growing capacity or they are dependent on modern agriculture to make up for deficient land. Both kinds are totally dependent on global trade to feed themselves.

Global trade that is totally dependent on the United States of America, particularly the United States Navy, to occur at all.

Shocker, huh? All those container ships and oil tankers and cargo ships are just giant cash cows with big red targets on their sides. Pirates, privateers and rogue nations all want a piece of that – and the only thing stopping them is the US Navy. Sure, there’s some piracy and probably some of that is actually state sponsored – but it’s negligible because most nations are sane enough to not fund crazies who are willing to take on the world’s most powerful navy. That and those crazies tend to get their boats shot out from under them making it a less than lucrative venture. Piracy is left to the desperate and the insane.

Most ships go about their business never worrying about pirates or terrorists or rogue states because the sea lanes are so safe. The strong presence of the US Navy is rarely seen – but always felt. Playing pirate isn’t much fun when a warship is just a radio distress call away – and a lot less so when that warship belongs to the only navy that can not only chase your little pirate boat off – it can also chase it down. The US Navy is a blue water navy – meaning it can go anywhere the water is deep enough. Few modern navies have that capability because they don’t need it – the US Navy is there to save the day.

So, what happens if the US Navy goes home? At first, not much – people are used to the sea lanes being safe. Gradually, that will change. The first obvious signs will be a reduction in cruise ships in all but US or other patrolled waters. Cruise ships are the targets of criminally minded and less well funded pirates – stealing personal valuables and ransoming some rich vacationers is a quick, relatively low risk way to fund your up and coming pirate enterprise.

But the ambitious won’t be the only ones to notice the lack of a sheepdog – and plenty of poor nations will see those big, juicy container ships as a ticket to easy cash. Whether ransoming the ship and cargo or selling the stuff themselves, depending on their capabilities, these nations will quickly turn to piracy as an easy out from their internal economic woes.

At least until the losses get too high. There’s no point sending a ship full of iPhones if it’s just going to get stolen. Better to just build those things where the supply chain can stay on dry land – which does nothing good for developing nations who depend on those jobs but such is life in the piracy lane. Our erstwhile pirates will now turn to cargo ships and tankers – easier to take but you’re kinda stuck ransoming them unless you happen to have the facilities to not only offload but sell the contents.

The biggest companies will start funding their own security – international law be darned. But even that may not be enough to deal with a determined nation-state. A few guns don’t make you a match for a destroyer. State sponsored piracy might not end cargo shipments but it will disrupt the heck out of international shipping.

So while Barney the CEO is negotiating the release of his cargo ship, back in Egypt people are getting more than a little antsy about where their 100,000 tons of grain are. As this breakdown continues, fewer and fewer ships even set out, let alone make it on time with their food cargoes.

Most nations can’t feed themselves, remember?

The United States has the capability to just take our ball and go home – but it’s not in our make up as Americans. We are far from perfect but we don’t have the soullessness to turn deaf ears to the screams of the starving. Even if we did something as reckless as just retiring from the world stage it wouldn’t be long before we were back in the middle of the mess again – this time cleaning up far more than a ‘foreign entanglement’.

This wasn’t what Washington meant, anyway. Washington was speaking to a podunk 18th Century upstart of a nation that got lucky in fending off the world’s greatest superpower at the time. He wasn’t addressing the most powerful nation on Earth nearly ninety years after it managed to reshape the world in a profound and ultimately good way. We’re already entangled – I can’t imagine Washington telling us to free ourselves by sacrificing millions.

Nor can I imagine us knowingly doing it.

That’s not the USA – it’s not the nation we love. Because that’s not imperfection – it’s just plain evil. Wanton negligence of a duty we created ourselves – nope, that’s not the American way.

It isn’t that we have to be the world’s policeman forever – or that we can’t discuss whether or not we should give up the role. It’s that we cannot – will not – must not – just quit. We can disentangle ourselves if we choose – but slowly and carefully, so not to hurt those weaker than ourselves who have come to depend on us for their very lives.

I think George Washington would approve.