"That -we- aren't utilizing our superpower status in the 21st century as well as the British did says more about us than it does about 18th century British Imperialism."
The Brits did it for the purpose of enslaving and exploiting her colonies and sucking it dry. Not for spreading democracy, liberty or rule of law. Among its great achievements, Britain has left behind a legacy of creating a hunger holocaust that killed 10 million people in several man made famines in Bengal. At least America has no such claim to fame.
INDEPENDENT INDIA as you so screamed did not just pop up with the ideas of democracy from their Asian history.
India was on the road to being just as broken and poor as Bangladesh (or East Pakistan for you) had the British not influenced it.
Facts are facts. French and Spanish and other European Imperialism left a complete wake of squalor and chaos from the plunder of natural resources, etc.
But the resultant civilization in Singapore, Hong Kong, United States, Canada, Australia and yes, India are a stark contrast to Vietnam or Guayana, even compared to Sierra Leone.
And I'll put the Islam-infested civilization in Pakistan that just helped the British thwart the recent AQ attack against Islam-infested ALGERIA, for example, any day of the week.
Here's an interesting blog I googled for ya....
What you say is true. Don't have time to join in, but Britain's colonization was for her enrichment, to the great detriment of India.