[ricpic]

I only wish that the political class (both parties) heeded George Washington's admonition to avoid foreign entanglements. I realize that this thread is not about whether America is or is not an empire. I fear that if we do become an empire we will become less and less the country that D'Souza celebrates. In empires, historically, vigorous political debate is supplanted by executive dictat. And that dictat eventually seeps into civil life. Congress has already pretty much ceded the running of the war on terror to the executive. Domestically we are more and more at the mercy of judges who make or unmake law based on no more than personal whim (which they call the General Will). The government under both Democrats and Republicans keeps "growing itself" at the expense of the people. How really vigorous is representative democracy?

[nyconse]

America has faced tough challenges before. The beauty of our system is things can change -wrongs can be righted.