Yes, America is an empire....(Europeans are content in their decadence)

WND ^ | September 6, 2006 | Benjamin Shapiro

[KC_Conspirator]

Ferguson is a prominent historian who believes that the British Empire brought a great deal of good to the world through its colonialism. ....................

Because it did. Failed nations today however blame "the legacy of colonialism" to cover up their failures.

[RexBeach]

Yep. Look at all the former British colonies in Africa. Most of them are nightmares.

[Yardstick]

*Bump*

[KC_Conspirator]

Africa is a prime example. Mostly failed socialist and tribal goverments. The UN ranks these nations at the bottom of their liveability chart. You also have to remember that the US, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada, and a whole host of other sucessful nations were once colonies too.

[Zack Nguyen]

I have read some Niall Ferguson, and he is not "foaming at the mouth." He is an academic who takes a balanced look at the age of empire, and concludes that Britain was not quite the devil incarnate. This, to liberals, makes him a "foaming at the mouth" national greatness conservative. Give me a break.

[JoeFromSidney]

If America is an empire, just who is paying us tribute? Looks to me like we're paying tribute ("foreign aid") to every third-world hellhole on the face of the globe.

Strangest example of an "empire" history has ever seen.

[Ceebass]

America is not an empire of the past. It is today's empire, and it is far stronger than any empire in modern history

Funny, but when I look at a map the borders of the US look pretty much the same as they did 150 years ago.

[IrishMike]

An unusual empire my friend,
a compassionate one,
one that does not extort.

[gafusa]

We are not the best empire, we certainly have room to improve. Yes we are an odd one. We give to others at the expense of ourself.

[IrishMike]

Funny, but when I look at a map the borders of the US look pretty much the same as they did 150 years ago.
.
.
.

We bought Alaska when, and we had a world wide military presence beginning when ..... to protect peaceful nations.

[tflabo]

"America is not an empire of the past. It is today's empire, and it is far stronger than any empire in modern history"

American Empire? What a joke! I only wish America was an empire....we would not have an Iran, North Korea, Cuba or Venezuela to contend with. I wish we owned these countries...their citizens would be far far better off with us than with their present tyrannical rulers and the world would be safer place too.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Meaning that we will continue to exist through at least the middle of this century?

Unlike Europe.

[gafusa]

Our method of Empire is not colonialist anyway, it is much better. Colonialism brought many good things, and some bad, but more importantly it did no allow for effective self government, it was temporary. Many countries destroyed the good things, and kept the bad.

[Publius64]

The Founders would repeatedly refer to our nation as an "empire;" from Washington to Hamilton and Jefferson. What's the big deal? So what if we are?

[norton]

Umm:
India!

The real failure of empire was in the wholesale abandonment of it following WW2.

Even the worst colonial powers would have taken Zimbabwe, either Congo, and Ivory Coast etc. to a far better level than today.

Wondering how Vietnam might have turned out had the French been willing to stay and gotten some early help from their allies?

[gafusa]

True. We have stopped expanding, and looking out for ourselves, which is not good.

[humint]

America is not an empire of the past. It is today's empire...

The word empire does not fit here, at all. Americans are leading a progressive march toward a global community of democratic nations and this behavior is extremely anti-empire. Americans do not rule over anyone. They challenge arbitrary and illegitimate tyrants whenever the opportunity arises. I don’t think they do it out of a sense of social justice… They do it because of who they are. American ideology is so deeply entrenched in the American psyche – we are a different breed of intellect. It effects everything we do. The American environment establishes the free exchange of ideas and is so successful - it's contagious. American ideology is affecting everyone, just as everyone can affect American ideology. That's not empire at all.

EMPIRE

1. a group of nations or peoples ruled over by an emperor, empress, or other powerful sovereign or government: usually a territory of greater extent than a kingdom, as the former British Empire, French Empire, Russian Empire, Byzantine Empire, or Roman Empire.
2. a government under an emperor or empress.
3. (often initial capital letter) the historical period during which a nation is under such a government: a history of the second French empire.
4. supreme power in governing; imperial power; sovereignty: Austria's failure of empire in central Europe.
5. supreme control; absolute sway: passion's empire over the mind.
6. a powerful and important enterprise or holding of large scope that is controlled by a single person, family, or group of associates: The family's shipping empire was founded 50 years ago.
7. (initial capital letter) a variety of apple somewhat resembling the McIntosh. –adjective
8. (initial capital letter) characteristic of or developed during the first French Empire, 1804–15.
9. (usually initial capital letter) (of women's attire and coiffures) of the style that prevailed during the first French Empire, in clothing being characterized esp. by décolletage and a high waistline, coming just below the bust, from which the skirt hangs straight and loose.
10. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to the style of architecture, furnishings, and decoration prevailing in France and imitated to a greater or lesser extent in various other countries, c1800–30: characterized by the use of delicate but elaborate ornamentation imitated from Greek and Roman examples or containing classical allusions, as animal forms for the legs of furniture, bas-reliefs of classical figures, motifs of wreaths, torches, caryatids, lyres, and urns and by the occasional use of military and Egyptian motifs and, under the Napoleonic Empire itself, of symbols alluding to Napoleon I, as bees or the letter N.

[durasell]

http://www.strandbooks.com/profile/?isbn=0374279659

[Publius64]

Humint says, "The word empire does not fit here, at all."

America is an empire, my friend. I'm 100% conservative, but we've got to face the facts. I don't have any problem with it being an empire either. Let's look at what the founders said about America and Empire.

Washington's letters are peppered with references to the US as a "rising empire."

In the first letter of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton says he will discuss, "the fate of an empire..."

Jefferson wrote to Madison that, "we should have suh an empire for liberty as she has never surveyed since the creation."

The question is how "empire" is understood. If we wish to speak in terms of territory, it's quite clear that we are an empire. Certainly the founders would agree.