Blaming the United States for the emergence of ISIS following American troop withdrawal buys into the policing mindset that pervaded U.S. foreign policy before Vietnam. Vietnam was portrayed as the first domino of a Communist take-over, and the United States was the only military power capable of preventing it. We should have learned from Vietnam that this was American hubris, inflated thinking about our role in international accord.

Jeb Bush and the Republican contenders find it convenient to link every increment in terror or hostility in the Middle East to be the consequence of U.S. withdrawal from the region. They portray the U.S. as the international peace-keeper, as if every battle front is the beat of the our police force and every act of terror a sign of our weakness.

This is nothing but hubris, assuming the god-like function of controlling all human events. The cancer-like spread of ISIS internationally should be evidence enough that terror is not controlled, as long as young men will risk their lives against perceived aggression against Muslim or Arab sovereignty. Believing that the U.S. military can bring calm to a cauldron of discontent not only distorts the effectiveness of military might, it squanders the lives of young men and women on old men’s delusions. The U.S., alone, can not contain the anger of repressed people.

It is shameful that those aspiring to political office are willing to sacrifice the lives of the next generation on a geo-political myth. They say: Walk back diplomacy and threaten Iran with extended sanctions and implied attack. Put U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq to uni-laterally whip ISIS. Bring U.S. firepower to the Ukraine to push back the Soviet influence in the revolution there. As the saying goes, When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

It is clear from the polling that favors Donald Trump that a sturdy minority think the United States should return to the role of international gun-slinger. If world domination is the name of the game, then you have no choice but to go after the bullies. However, the less vocal majority has consistently favored withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan and a more modest role for their country in the international struggle for power.

Now we see international economic sanctions and military alliances curtailing the lawless and setting boundaries in Iran and the Ukraine. The power to contain rebellion lies in the fragile consensus of nations working together. We have seen how difficult it is manage such sanctions, and the hawks among politicians scorn this kind of negotiation, feeling the impotence that unwieldy alliances spawn.

But the impotence of alliances is a sign of humility in foreign policy. The U.S. is no longer the policeman of world affairs, but a willing participant. The game of world domination ended with the Cold War. Iraq was our failed attempt to win that game. ISIS is a sign that the game has changed.

To the hammer we will have to add other tools, measuring tools, joining tools, digging and posting tools. Every world conflict is not a nail. Every coalition is not a hammer. We are merely participants in a world struggling for balance and justice.