Submitted by media girl on 9 March 2008 - 10:16pm
100 years? 1000 years? 10,000 year? Is John McCain kidding? No. None of the Republicans (nor a few Democracts either) is kidding. America, to them, is to be a colonial empire.
Never mind how America was founded, as a rebellion against colonialism.
Iraq is to be an American colony, replete with military bases, a hand-picked government, and precious little involvement of the international community.
Unlike the British Empire, though, the American Empire is supported by mercenaries. The American military is not enough for Republican ambitions, so we have private mercenaries armed with superior weapons, with little oversight, being paid four times what our youngest and bravest adults are offered for putting their lives on the line.
It's like the Roman Empire, except that now our mercenaries collect booty not from the vanquished but from our own taxes. Both concepts are horrid. Both concepts are without honor, at least the honor that we talk about when we talk about it amongst ourselves.
John McCain supports colonialism. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at least claim they are against it.
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1 comment postedWe are the new Rome. That observation does not originate with me. It was said following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The observation was that we were acting as a largely unopposed power.
The parallels are striking. In James Westfall Thompson's "The Middle Ages," the author traces the origin of the Middle Ages to Ancient times, for the old Roman territories emerged into medieval and later into modern states.
One thing that strikes me as a rough parallel is how Rome administered its territories. There were the areas administered by Rome and the senate, and there were outlying areas administered by military men which did not have to answer to the senate in quite the same way.
This is nothing new. For centuries nations have gone out to colonize other nations. Usually what happens is that the colonized people get restive and fight back. Today India is no longer ruled by the British. Hong Kong is now under the control of Red China. Even the Soviets, as did the Austro-Hungarians, have learned it is hard to hold a culturally unrelated people under political sway.
Toward the end of the 20th century, colonialism was no longer popular. Its cost was quite high.
And yet, the new crop of 21st century American leaders has forgotten all the lessons. They have the military control bit down, but the long term economic and political consequences seems to have escaped their grasp.
Can a democracy build an empire? It can for a time, but eventually the people must choose which path they will take.
Alas, with the current crop of Republicans, they have chosen empire over democracy.
It now remains for the people to choose if that is where they wish to see the Republic will go.
November is coming and hopefully America will turn a corner at last.
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