Posted on 10/09/2001 11:25:39 AM PDT by johnqueuepublic
PipeBombNews Editorial
~ Empire America? – Yes! ~
By William A. Mayer - Editor & Publisher
October 9, 2001
“...Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue fortify the strength and courage of barbarians. In every age they have oppressed the polite and peaceful nations of China, India, and Persia, who neglected, and still neglect, to counter-balance these natural powers by the resources of military art. The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and serviceable weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and manners: and the feeble policy of Constantine and his successors armed and instructed, for the ruin of the empire, the rude valour of the barbarian mercenaries...” - From Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" - 1765It is with a thousand years of perspective and hindsight that Gibbon, with us looking over his shoulder two centuries later, restates the simple law of the jungle - kill or be killed.
Failure to internalize and act upon the fact that planet Earth is more often than not a cruel and factious place is more than foolish, it is suicidal.
Critics from the squishy right, mostly champions of libertarian thought, counsel a retreat from any American role that even approaches that of global policeman.
Populist wing nuts like Pat Buchanan argue that America can simply walk away from foreign squabbles, using the verbiage from George Washington’s farewell address that warned of “entangling foreign alliances”
Taking a much more aggressive tact, the left has a long history of indicting the West and especially America as colonialist plunderers of other cultures, imposing hegemony via economic and military power.
While this accusation can be dismissed as an essentially ideological attack it is now time to turn the argument on its head and actually embrace the kernel of the concept, and the sooner the better.
From the time the Roman republic was declared in 509 BC to it’s ultimate sacking by the Visigoths in 410 AD the Roman Empire, which at its zenith spanned over 2000 miles in breadth, for the first time in the history placed the most desirable and arable land in the old world under the control of a centralized modern government - a system which forged this land and its inhabitants into a supra almost federal type organization, elevating it far above the surrounding barbarian world.
How did they do this?
- · They ordered society from top to bottom, training young minds and bodies together at rigorous levels
- · They developed new concepts of governmental organization and integration
- · They invented the science of military tactics - analyzing the lessons of previous wars and battles
- · They developed the idea of public works and public sanitation
- · They were able to instill among the citizenry, and above all the martial class, absolute devotion to duty and fidelity of purpose
The Roman Empire was willed into being by force of personality and force of arms.
Above all it was successful, guaranteeing relative peace (or what could pass for it in a world primarily populated by, what only can be described as, quasi-human beasts) for nearly a millennium.
When the empire failed it ushered in a thousand years of darkness and horror.
Yes the Romans were oft times cruel themselves, but their cruelty generally had a purpose. It was the exception to the rule, not the personification of it.
Caesar Augustus and Julius Caesar were the two most remarkable men in the history of the ancient world, making the flowering of Rome complete.
America also has a chance to flower anew.
America has a meeting with destiny, history and events beyond her control have demanded her presence.
To say that we stand at a crossroads is trite, but indeed we do so stand.
We have been forced to learn hard truths in a very short time.
We have learned that we are alone in this world; that we are hated by those jealous of our standard of living and because we have had the temerity to follow an older more benevolent prophet.
We have been shown that our complex society, though stunningly diverse and rich beyond belief, is so delicately balanced - so free - that it is in many ways as fragile as a mayfly.
We have been brought face to face with the fact that this delicate creature is now pursued by the hounds of hell; illiterate barbarians barely capable of signing their own names, who use a 7th century text to justify extermination of the non-Islamic world.
It is as if we are confronted by escapees from some insane time warp who have taken advantage of our good nature, our belief in equality and our dedication to civil liberties and freedom.
If we cower from this challenge, if we pull inward we will be picked off one by one, community by community.
We will become targets of opportunity succumbing with increasing rapidity as weapons of greater and greater power become available to agents of terror, plunging us into a an abyss from which escape is unlikely.
There can only be one response – to embrace power, to accept the role for which we have been unknowingly grooming ourselves for 200 years.
We must establish a Pax Americana – a worldwide dominion – an Empire – hard when need be - but fair and leavened with our deep regard for liberty.
We must create our own martial culture, appropriate for the times, as did the Romans.
Our young people must be educated and inculcated into this culture.
We must once again strive for excellence, OUR test scores in mathematics, science, reading and history must become the standard by which achievement is measured.
The pledge of allegiance must be said - with purpose - in every classroom in the United States, abstinence will be tolerated , but doing so will reflect poorly on those so choosing.
We must develop and deploy the weapons of the 21st century, directed energy weapons, space based lasers, ultra supersonic fighters and bombers - whatever advanced technological means whereby power, authority and in the case of attack - revenge - can be projected.
We must not strike indiscriminately at innocents, but we will not let their presence shield our enemies.
A very good symbolic first step might be to send the UN packing; it has become a symbol of anti-Americanism. It exudes racism, is corrupt to its core and is anti-Christian and anti-Semitic to boot - send it to Chernobyl where its red glow will then match its ideology.
Rome does not consult Babylon on matters of foreign policy.
Grasping at the mantle of such awesome power brings with it the attendant duty of exercising it in a way consistent with the values that have preserved us to this point.
Our founding fathers could never have conceived the world in which we live, but they would never forgive us if we departed from the ideals that they died for.
By observing and acting upon what is best in our heritage we can avoid becoming merely another Reich - smug, egocentric and eventually despotic.
It is a heady challenge, one which is unique in the history of the modern world, but one which we MUST accept - the portent of allowing fanatical madmen to wage a continuous jihad against us, with the full array of modern weapons, is too terrible an alternative to contemplate.
Although I do lean towards libertarianism in many respects, global politics is not one of them. Some of the greatest things our country has achieved has been acting in the role of world protector and world builder. Sometimes, we may wish to consider that if we want the hearts and minds of those who live in other nations, we have to do more than just sell them products.
I'm all for kicking out the UN...but wasn't Rome itself anti-christain, they did nail Christ to the cross and kill most of the Apostles. This guy is all wet, he want's us to be more like the Romans. Rome does not consult Babylon on matters of foreign policy, but it did consult with the corporate elites of that time, sort of like our government. Mayer does not mention the murders of those who wanted power, does not mention the mass murders conducted by the Roman army on the conqured. He also does not mention that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that the wonderful Julius Caesar was the first dictator of the equaly wonderful Roman Empire. Yup he's got it right, lets conguer the freaking world and make everyone alive the subjets of Britney Spears.
Actually I've been taking this line since 9/11. A true definition of an empire is where one state (metropole) controls the internal and external policies of other states (peripheries).
We could have the Imperial Republic of America in short order and to a degree we do have it.
If these idiots (a good chuck of the Middle East) cant be trusted to own nuclear weapons, wealth, tanks and oil, why should they be trusted with their own nationhood.
They've picked a fight with us; time to start conquering again.
Patton was right.
Actually I've been taking this line since 9/11. A true definition of an empire is where one state (metropole) controls the internal and external policies of other states (peripheries).
We could have the Imperial Republic of America in short order and to a degree we do have it.
If these idiots (a good chuck of the Middle East) cant be trusted to own nuclear weapons, wealth, tanks and oil, why should they be trusted with their own nationhood.
They've picked a fight with us; time to start conquering again.
Patton was right.
Which silos are those?
Building up Bin Laden's group in the 1980s through U.S. tax money.
Paying 42 million in U.S. tax dollars earlier this year to the Taliban for drug eradication efforts.
Supporting Saddam against Iran.
Providing aid to the Islamic fanatics in Afghanistan *before* the Soviet troops intervened.
Supporting Noreiga, before be became "the next Hitler" that is.
Supporting Islamic extremists who happen to be Albanians in their quest to create a Greater Albania.
“Let us bring order to the galaxy”
All kidding aside, if you examine history it becomes very clear that the first thing an empire does is enslave it’s own population for the benefit of a power elite. An American Empire is a phenomenally bad idea. In considering our founding fathers, the road to empire is the very best way to “depart from the ideals that they died for”.
"Supporting Saddam against Iran."
You cant see the brilliance of pitting two evil despots against each other?
"Providing aid to the Islamic fanatics in Afghanistan *before* the Soviet troops intervened."
BS Austin totally groundless charge
"Supporting Noreiga, before be became "the next Hitler" that is."
Isnt old Pineapple face in a US jail right now??
"Supporting Islamic extremists who happen to be Albanians in their quest to create a Greater Albania."
This is Clinton's legacy Austin - did you vote for him?
Hate to break the news to you but Star Wars was fictional, Darth was a guy wearing a plastic helmet.
Sheeesh!!!!!!!!!!!!
No wonder Clinton got re-elected
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