The principle of American foreign policy reform should not be ‘less intervention’ (though this is no doubt a consequence of the lesson to be learned), but the necessity of grand strategy. Further myopia will only beget confusion and disasters. America cannot become a global Rome: the world is simply too large and complex to be so managed. The only hope is to exercise influence conservatively and in a way cognizant of the limits of power.

Andrew Beddow is a student at the University of Michigan. He is president of the University of Michigan Chapter of the John Quincy Adams Society.

Image: An American soldier can be seen during a visit on the U.S. aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush, as it docks at Haifa port, Israel July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun​