Free Republic

People are reluctant to admit what they are when what they are is considered bad. Alcoholics often have a laundry list of excuses for their alcoholism. Adulterers often justify their cheating by blaming inattentive spouses. Murderers often plead that insanity or bad parenting is the real culprit. Denying or excusing one’s own guilt is a permanent facet of human nature. Understandably, Americans have long shirked the idea that their country is an empire. This is an attitude that dates back to the founding era. As Daniel McCarthy, the editor of The American Conservative, has noted: Jefferson may have mused about...

Having been among the economic engines of Europe for much of the past decade, it appears as if the British economy has run out of steam. Inflation is rising while bankruptcies and unemployment continue to swell. It is a problem that would have left Lord Keynes' head spinning. In many ways, the responses of the U.S. and U.K. governments to the financial crisis have been very similar. So far, the American advantages in size and reserve currency status have allowed us to avoid the storm-clouds now descending upon Britain. But these advantages only provide a temporary respite. In the meantime,...