Imagine waking up disoriented from the bright glare of a Auto LED flashlight and the sound of snarling dogs and foreigners ripping you, your spouse and your children out of bed. In the United States, we'd think this was a home invasion, but in Afghanistan, this scene is a commonplace nighttime raid by our troops, another callous example of American interventionism.

Liberals pulled us into Libya because Gadhafi was "poised" to murder all the dissenters. What direct benefit is our intervention to the U.S. taxpayers? More importantly, why are we dropping bombs when Congress did not declare war? Many liberals turn this into a humanitarian issue, but the United States is not the world's big brother. I understand some feel we cannot idly sit by, but my taxes support the American government. Every dollar siphoned to "saving" foreigners is a dollar siphoned from our schools, infrastructure or research.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans, beholden to the military-industrial complex, advocate a worldview that appoints the United States to maintain order in the world. With election season heating up, I'm sure many Republicans testing out the presidential waters are sure to talk about Iran. "We'll bomb their facilities," they'll say, "because it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuke."

Perhaps Iran is acting defensively. Perhaps they are worried about us; we do have a track record of overthrowing their government. We do have troops on both sides of Iran.

Contrary to what Fox News tells us, Iran does not pose a threat to the very existence of the United States.

Rep. Ron Paul often preaches about the concept of blowback, the idea that when we try to impose our will on foreign lands we will suffer unforeseen externalities. A prime example would be the Iranian coup in 1953, which helped set up the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the installment of the current anti-West regime in Iran. According to Paul, they don't hate us over there because we're fat or rich; they hate us because we try to impose our will everywhere. The United States has a de facto military empire. Are our hundreds of abroad military bases really necessary?

In truth, we are not an empire; we are a republic, and it's about time we started acting like one. Get out of Libya before it's too late. Leave Iraq. Bequeath Afghanistan to someone else.

"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none," Thomas Jefferson once said. The founders envisioned the United States as a humble republic. It wasn't until the Spanish-American War in 1898 that non-interventionism was defenestrated.

Military intervention is a red herring to avert attention from the real problems facing our nation. It is not up to us to fix other countries, yet politicians seem to find it easier to invade half of the Middle East than get our fiscal house in order.

In the end, it comes down to dollars and cents. With our national debt approaching the gross domestic product, we cannot afford nonessential military intervention. The loss of life anywhere is unfortunate, but unless our national security is at extreme risk, we ought to think long and hard before dropping bombs.

Our nation is many things: the lab for scientific innovation, the cultural trendsetter and a global beacon of hope. It should not sink to the level of schoolyard bully. Any politician arguing for the need to intervene in the affairs of others is full of hot air.

We have much bigger fish to fry. Instead, politicians should focus on balancing the budget, paying off our debt, attracting manufacturing jobs, revamping public education, and improving the economy to ensure the 21st century will be another American century.