First off, We don't have enough oil, not for long. Without radical energy change we have no chance of winning. Besides all these other issues, it's ecologically the correct path. You can clean the air and water while you produce energy, or you can polute it. Remember, population is climbing quickly and shows no sign of stopping, and China and India will come into full consumption in the next decade.
It wouldn't be isolationism, it would be exclusion. If you're gonna play purse string politics, you gotta close the purse sometimes. Sometimes you just have to turn your back, f'em. If they turn around and come after ya, it's time to do some smiting.
The whole thing is revolution has to come from within. This whole running revolutions path of world politics over the years has not really served us as a nation very well. It has most definitely benefitted many large U.S. companies and thereby contributed into the economy and such, but over all on a world stage, it has and still is biting us in the collective a$$. Our last 50 years foriegn policy would make the founding fathers wretch. As you said, current policy is built on incorrect models.
