As far as our current "philosophy" goes, we have a man at the helm of the ship of state who believes the USA is an illegitimate country, founded by rich white men, and that it only got rich by stealing from the "poor" countries and its own "poor" people. In his speeches, and especially his "apology tour" after being elected, he has done nothing but run down the greatest country in the world and vowed to "fundemental change" it. He is resentful for all colonialism and has this afro-centric view of the world and when you couple this with his Islamic sympathies and narcissism you begin to understand why he is running the ship of state aground to punish it.
War seems to come out of nowhere, like rust that suddenly pops up on iron after a storm.
Throughout history, we have seen that war can sometimes be avoided or postponed, or its effects mitigated -- usually through a balance of power, alliances and deterrence rather than supranational collective agencies. But it never seems to go away entirely.
Just as otherwise lawful suburbanites might slug it out over silly driveway boundaries, or trivial road rage can escalate into shooting violence, so nations and factions can whip themselves up to go to war -- consider 1861, 1914 or 1939. Often, the pretexts...
We're not exceptional
I personally would like to see the tragic elements of our history acknowledged.
We cling bitterly to our guns and Bibles, while having antipathy towards those not like Obama.
And the American people put this disaster in the WH twice!