Our policy is simple and obvious, we will “defend” the “nation.” No more, no less.
If we are attacked, we will fight back with all the resources at our disposal. But if someone somewhere is in conflict, that is their problem. If there is something we can do diplomatically to restore the peace we will do it, but we are not the policemen of the world.
As President John Quincy Adams put it:
“Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”