Actually I think a lot of people find that idea pretty appealing. What tends to be significantly less popular though is bringing up opposition to violence when

Actually I think a lot of people find that idea pretty appealing. What tends to be significantly less popular though is bringing up opposition to violence when it's defensive in nature like you just did. The US would have had a lot of opportunity in the 1940s to spend effort and resources on something other than 151 carriers if Japan had just kept to their own borders; it wasn't a lack of enlightenment or whatever you're suggesting.