After a few months of protests in Ukraine, citizens of the Crimean peninsula voted Monday to become an independent state — one which will likely be annexed by Russia.

Despite the fact that the referendum passed with an overwhelming majority, many western countries have said that the vote violated both Ukrainian and international law. This has prompted some people to consider implementing American military intervention in the area.

Does Russia’s likely expansion threaten our country and its allies? Absolutely. But is it the United States’ responsibility to intervene? Absolutely not.

However, proponents of intervention may argue that since we have ties with the European Union, we must support them in preventing Russia from expanding its power.

Sound familiar?

Protecting our own interests, at the expense of waging proxy wars in far-away countries, is selfish and wrong, as it would only use the Ukrainian people as a means to our own ends. The United States has a nasty habit of doing this: our involvement in Vietnam during the ‘60s sprung a wide range of protests, as Americans began to feel the horrors of war closer to home.

It seems that so many people are eager to push America to be the world police, but we haven’t witnessed everyday bloodshed on our own soil since the Civil War. Most people feel distant from war, so it feels much easier to pull the trigger when they don’t witness the consequences firsthand.

We can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep pretending to be humanitarians while actually perpetuating wars in an attempt to prove our own power. It’s happened countless times: in Vietnam, in Korea, in Kuwait, in Afghanistan, in Iraq…the list goes on.

It seems that our presence in previous conflicts may have impacted the way we think about the present: more than half of Americans oppose involvement with the current situation in Ukraine, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center last week.

Getting involved in yet another overseas conflict is not what the American people want, and it will only make us weaker. Our own country is buried under mountains of debt. We need to keep those dollars here at home, and not spend money shipping our men and women into combat—one which doesn’t even directly involve us. We need to focus on building up our own economy again. We need to ensure that if a real, violent crisis occurs at home, we’ll be ready.

The United States should voice its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and reaffirm its alliance with the E.U. However, there needs to be a change in precedent, one which could fight the “world police” label. President Barack Obama should continue America’s step back from other countries.