Americans Are No Imperialists, by Charley Reese, 18 Dec 2006 "I've always argued that the American people are not cut out to be imperialists. We lack the sophistication, the language skills and, to our credit, the ruthlessness that running a global empire requires. Furthermore, our main interests are in our own country. ... For most Americans, there is no place on earth they'd rather be than right here in the U.S."
Confronting the Empire: It's time ..., by Justin Raimondo, 5 Jan 2007 Related Topic: Washington, DC "Culturally, Washington, D.C. has been thoroughly corrupted by the virus of imperialism: these guys (and gals) like the idea of running an empire. Dazzled by their own importance in the scheme of things, and hypnotized by their own hubris, the denizens of the Imperial City disdain any suggestion that we might return to our humble republican roots."
Empire or Liberty: The Antifederalists and Foreign Policy, 1787-1788 [PDF], by Jonathan Marshall, Journal of Libertarian Studies, 1980 Related Topics: Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Robert Morris "Many Antifederalists believed that their opponents' real goal was to achieve not simply a more effective republic, but a constantly growing, glorious empire. ... The military and political exigencies of such an empire would snuff out the flame of liberty, and substitute glory and might for the republican ideals of the revolution."
How Empires Bamboozle the Bourgeoisie, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Mises.org Daily Article, 28 Oct 2006 "... the people must be bamboozled into accepting some ideological rationale for government to expand and become an imperial power ... If people are religious, the rulers can claim that empire is necessary for religious reasons. If they have a fear of some ghastly ideology like fascism or communism, the leaders can say that they are staving off such systems."
Imperial Hopefuls, by Sheldon Richman, 22 Feb 2007 "The U.S. government has been building an empire for decades. ... the underlying theme has been ...: America, because it is exceptionally enlightened and has been anointed by history, must lead the world. To do so it must maintain a worldwide network of political and economic interests, client states, and allies. Those interests must be continuously protected and nurtured ..."
Road to Empire: An illegal treaty with Iraq seals our fate, by Justin Raimondo, 28 Nov 2007 Related Topic: Iraq Discusses the "Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America" "The British routinely point to their imperial past as a source of pride, as do American Anglophiles. The French, the Spanish, and the Italians all revel in the supposed glory of their past conquests: it's only the Americans who disdain the very idea of having an empire, and, indeed, instinctively sense something profoundly un-American about the whole concept of Washington, D.C., as the capital of a global imperium. That's what ordinary Americans think, at any rate ..."
Shall Liberty or Empire be Sought?, by Patrick Henry, 5 Jun 1788 Related Topics: Constitution of the United States, Liberty, Standing Armies Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention "Shall we imitate the example of those nations who have gone from a simple to a splendid government? ... If we admit this consolidated government, it will be because we like a great, splendid one. Some way or other we must be a great and mighty empire; we must have an army, and a navy, and a number of things."
Terrorism Comes with Empire, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 8 Jul 2005 Related Topics: Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States "For those who want lives of freedom, normality, peace, prosperity, and harmony, there is but one solution: Dismantle the empire; bring the troops home and discharge them into the private sector; stop meddling in the affairs of other nations; stop trying to dominate and control the world ..."
The Empire Is Over, by Charley Reese, 29 Sep 2007 Compares the current U.S. government to the characters in The Wizard of Oz and discusses the signs of an empire ending "A friend of mine, a classical scholar, sometimes tells his students, 'No one woke up one morning in 476 A.D. and said, "Gee, I'm in the Dark Ages."' The transition from the heyday of Roman power to a stage of barbarism was a gradual process. We are in a process of change. No one is going to announce on TV that the U.S. is no longer a superpower."
The Price of Empire, by Sheldon Richman, 26 Apr 2006 Related Topics: Peru, War on Drugs "Empire — sorry, benevolent hegemony — has its price. Terrorism is one. Every empire in history probably had terrorism directed at it, because it's one of the few weapons available to relatively weak nonstate adversaries. Another, less dramatic price is the determination of other countries' rulers to go their separate ways."
The Urge to 'Surge': It has to be resisted, by Justin Raimondo, 15 Dec 2006 "We are learning just how costly imperial ambitions can be: empires, after all, don't come cheap. And then there are the nonmaterial costs: the corruption of politics and of the spirit. ... the political dynamics here in America give life to the empire-building impulse, in spite of the growing national distaste for foreign wars."
There Are Two Ways To Gain Cooperation, by Gary North, 9 Mar 2006 "The central factor of the demise of empire is cost. It costs too much to organize an empire in comparison to the cost of undermining it. ... The costs of maintaining legitimacy for an empire involve both force and propaganda. Both factors are under siege by modern technology, which is not only radically price competitive but is also feature competitive."
Americans Should Be "Anti-American", by Sheldon Richman, 21 Jun 2006 Related Topics: United States "He likes the imperial U.S. foreign policy, so when foreign people express their hated for it, Kagan and his ilk misdirect us to think the foreigners hate us as individuals. The apologists for empire count on you not to examine the matter too closely, because if you did, you might see the merit in what the foreigners are saying."
An Empire Built of Paper, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., The American Conservative, 27 Mar 2006 Related Topics: Warren G. Harding, Money, Woodrow Wilson A review of Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin "Since the days of the Great Khan ... empires have resorted to rosier delusions ... than the Khan model. From the Romans to the Fourth Crusade (and their Venetian and French aggressors) to Genghis Khan to the Spaniards and Napoleon and the British, Bonner and Wiggin teach us the lessons of empire, with learning, wisdom, and irony."
Hell-Bent on War: Putin's right: the US is 'plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts', by Justin Raimondo, 14 Feb 2007 Related Topics: War, Iran "Putin put his finger on it when he challenged the neocon vision of a 'unipolar' world ... History is full of ironies, but to be told by an ex-KGB officer that we are in danger of losing our republican form of government and succumbing to the temptations of empire – are we to be spared nothing? Putin's words sting only because they ring so true."
Our Patience on Iraq Should Be Exhausted, by Sheldon Richman, 4 Apr 2007 Related Topics: Iraq War (2003) "When are ordinary Americans going to realize they are financiers and fodder for a worldwide empire? ... We're told the network of far-flung interests is for our own security, but as Johnson and others have shown, global military and political intervention makes enemies for the country, invites terrorism ('blowback'), and hence endangers Americans at home and abroad."
The Meaning of Haditha: Murderous depravity and empire-building go hand-in-hand, by Justin Raimondo, 2 Jun 2006 Related Topics: Haditha Massacre, Iraq War (2003) "The ugly truth is that we have been corrupted by dreams of empire: our foreign and military policy of 'preemption' is the doctrine of a swaggering bully. To claim preeminence on every continent, to strut and preen on the world stage and demand applause at gunpoint, this is evidence of a collective mania, a severe psychological affliction ..."
Why They Hate Us, by Sheldon Richman, Freedom Daily, Feb 2008 Related Topics: United States, Terrorism Examines the myth that the United States is hated because Americans "are free and represent democracy" "The last century-plus of U.S. foreign policy has largely been a story of aggression and empire-building. American presidents have intervened and interfered in every region of the world, not in self-defense, but in the name of U.S. 'national interest,' which in reality means the interest of well-connected corporations and their ambitious political agents who felt appointed by history to bring order to the world."
Books
Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism by P.J. O'Rourke, 2004
ISBN 1593557140: Audio CD, Brilliance Audio, Unabridged edition, 2004
