[W]e can thus derive a set of criteria that make up our Empirical Empire Test:America today is zero-for-six.1. Does the state have ambitions for permanent territorial expansion?
2. Does the state install a subsidiary bureaucratic infrastructure (e.g. its own governors, laws)?
3. Does the state have a highly centralized sovereign authority?
4. Does the state extract taxes and/or resources from its territories?
5. Does the state force its territories to adopt linguistic, cultural or social practices?
6. Does the state use coercive and/or military means to arriving at 1-5?
More:
Rusty Shackleford is optimistic while Dean Esmay blasts "America sucks conservatives," a species I've never encountered. But Jonah Goldberg, who has encountered such folk, dismissed the claim three years ago:
[T]he talk we hear from the paleo-Right and the anti-American Left and most places in-between about the American "empire" is so disingenuous. In fact, if you look really, really closely, you'll discover that when American lefty intellectuals prattle about American imperialism it is mostly a metaphorical argument. They confuse our cultural dominance with the Roman Empire's dominance, skipping right over the fact that the Roman Empire installed Roman governors, collected imperial taxes, imposed Roman law, conscripted colonial subjects into the Roman army (eventually), and generally considered Rome the supreme and final authority on any important question.(via NIF, twice)
7 comments:
What Gindy said- exactly.
Carl, watch out! Teddy Kennedy and Howard Dean are now issuing fatwas on those who employ logic.
You couldn't be more right, but it doesn't matter, of course. See Pedro's post. No grain of atrocious reality will be allowed to penetrate the rosy-fingered clouds of deranged liberalism.
But .. But ... But ...
The US IS Imperialist.
My professor told me that was
the correct answer on his test.
And he is so very smart. Gosh,
he can't possibly be wrong.
And those nice men on TV ALSO
say we are imperialist.
I don't care what the facts are,
I'm a Liberal Democrat!
One might argue about five.
Martin:
I would have thought that the fact that your native language is German sufficiently establishes the accuracy of point five.
@ Carl
In fact the US imposed Western style democracy - undisputedly a cultural feature - in those parts of Germany it controlled (for which I am grateful). So it does in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wanted to provoke a little bit first. Actually the "anti-imperialists" should have to explain whether point five, the only which is at least partially correct is evil per se. The subject of the debate should be the culture "imposed".
Martin:
I agree that point five isn't even evil per se (and arguably America is innocent of the "charge" in any event). You're right that the burden is on the "anti-imperialists" (the ones who class me -- maybe you too -- as Rechtsextremismus) to explain why Western Civilization, including representative democracy, isn't demonstrably superior to other governments/cultures. If it is, what's wrong with "imposing" it? It worked fine in Japan.
But, of course, in this multi-culti world, all viewpoints are valid, making Burma and Venezuela the moral equivalents of America and the E.U., and Che as a sort of sexier, Spanish-speaking Willy Brandt. What folly.
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