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Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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November 27, 2002
Empire my butt
Many idiots like to carry on about American empire. Maureen Dowd famously mocks the "boy emperor." These people really should shut the hell up, and save this stuff for when they're talking to their therapists about their daddy issues.
America does not act like an empire. Words have meanings. Empires send armies to conquer and subjugate other countries. They appoint puppet governments. They collect tribute. None of this bears any close resemblance to America's behavior.
This does not mean that I approve of all American foreign policy. We have way too many troops and way too much foreign aid money spread all over the place. This arguably causes more problems than it solves. We certainly should reconsider most of our foreign involvements. We could start by cutting off funding and involvement with the United Nations.
Even as it is, though, America does not act in an imperial manner. Most of the entangling foreign alliances that we are engaged in (against George Washington's wise advice) are misguided attempts at helping out. We spend big fat hunks of money defending Japan and Europe and South Korea. Sometimes our ideas of trying to help don't, but that doesn't mean that we're trying to subjugate the world.
Even the stuff about oil does not constitute anything like "empire." Our government pays for security and protection for oil fields and oil rich countries. That's even after American companies paid to develop the oil fields a century ago and then had their contracts nullified and their investments nationalized. We've even put up with the Saudis funding Islamic extremism and even terrorism. And then we STILL pay full market price for the damned oil. What kind of exploitative "empire" is that?
Victor Hanson breaks it right down with some historical perspective on what empirical powers actually do versus what America does.
posted by Al at 11/27/2002 12:56:00 PM
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