The whole signing statements thing pisses me off. There is no provision for signing statements in the Constitution or in statutory law. They amount to a line-item veto, which privilege the president does not have. I would love to hear just one Democrat say that out loud in front of a camera. Preferably, over and over. And then I'd like to see just one of our networks play the clip. Preferably, over and over.
A girl can dream, can't she?
I think that it is high time for American's to admit to ourselves that we are an empire and that we will continue to do what empires do: take care of their own at the expense of others.
Having said that, we can be the "benevolent" empire that much of the world once saw us as. The term actually comes from an article by a German historian, whom I can't remember off hand, published back in the 1990s. His argument was that once anoather nation accepted that the U.S. had, or could easily, crush them, then we were the best of masters. And that submission meant access to America's global trade system and eventual prosperity. In more rebellious climes, such as South America and Africa, we waged bloody proxy wars to protect our access to natural resources.
That is also how Rome ran her empire. If you accepted Roman mastery, then you recieved great government, just laws, roads, water systems, bathes, etc. We do the same: crush Germany and then rebuild her and the lands she invaded once the Nazis accepted that we were their masters. Note that we then allowed hundreds of thousands of former Waffen SS soldiers, Nazi scientists, intelligence experts, etc to not only go free but to rule the new West German state.
American conquest of Mexico, and the ceding of 55% of Mexico's territory, fueled American expansion for the ensuing six decades. Good American government and basic civil liberties for Euro-Americans led tens of millions of Europeans to immigrate and fill the conquered continent. Other ill-treated immigrants, such as Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, Arabic, etc ethnic groups came as well because they were willing to endure terrible prejudice for a chance at the financial aspects of the American dream.
My point is that we have always been conquerors from the day whitey stepped off the boat at Jamestown. Note that Tennessee should actually be Ta Na Si in it's Cherokee form.
All that we have comes from American expansion and from mantaining a global trade network centered upon North America. If that falls, we will all lose the American standard of living.
More frightening is the chance that our collapse would destroy the global trade network that we manage and protect. Note that Europe spent ten centuries, 1,000 years, overcoming the downfall of Rome.
Again, I'm a social liberal, but a foriegn policy realist. The U.S. has always used military might to expand and will continue to do so. So, of course, we are staying in Iraq for the long haul. The oil economy might be dying but it will be a slow and painfull death for those nations that fail to secure oil reserves in the next three decades.
Casey,
Excellent points. But you forgot one thing:
America is an empire, and we are facing now the reality of being that empire. Because the one thing all empires do, have always done, is fail.
It's not all Bush's fault, though he has hastened our demise dramatically. But these wheels were set in motion long ago. When all's said and done, we can consider ourselves lucky if we come out of this looking like Britain instead of Portugal.
Very well said. I really like the Britain and Portugal analogy.
Frankly, I think that some sort of fascist state is the only chance of American power continuing. I don't want to see it happen, but I feel a series of Caesars coming who will restore order and conquer.
And after twelve years in Asheville I had convinced myself that the world was actually growing up.
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