The US - The end of a Superpower

[smelter]

We might have a reprieve now that the reign of Evil King George is all but done. He wasn't satisfied with singlehandedly ruining the Republican Party, he had to ruin the country too.

The Oval Office needs to be purged of evil spirits .... anyone have the phone number of Sarah Palin's witchdoctor?

 

[Glafna]

I've seen this coming a long time. All you had to do was see the signs, such as the Reign of Terror in post Revolution France, which was brought on by the Law of Suspects, which is frighteningly similar to the Patriot Act. Right now the US is in it's own Reign of Terror, one of your own making, by creating enemies outside, and spreading doubt and fear within.

 

[Kulindahr]

We started being an empire the moment "compelling state interest" became such a tool of the state, a way to overrun the Constitution and trample on individual rights. We went farther down the road when "public safety" became a mantra that nearly equated with "compelling state interest" (anyone who recalls the old "committee for Public Safety" should have shivered at the mere invocation of the term).
The military adventurism is a sign of an executive who is at heart an emperor, just as is the flagrant use and abuse of executive orders. Reagan was an emperor at heart; so was Clinton -- but Bush beats the two of them combined, in spades.
Truly observant people have noted and warned that we are becoming an empire as early as the mid-60s. Empires can come about in several ways; we are following the Roman model, where empire takes over to perpetuate the corpse of Republic, which failed due to those in leadership putting their own interests first.
I see a seed of empire in FDR's redefining the American Dream from liberty to prosperity: we seek riches, not rights, and when we do seek rights we do so selfishly, without regard for everyone else. When that defines the masses, it defines the politicians moreso, since they arise from the masses and distill the aspirations that call to us all.
My grandmother, according to her diary, understood the duty to vote as the duty to choose what is best for the Republic, and that belief was seemingly universal. But FDR appealed to our selfishness, and now we vote "in our interests". Goldwater had it right; out true interest is liberty -- but the American public rejected him, and chose the imperial-minded JFK... and the even more imperial LBJ, who set the tone for those who followed.
So we get a Congress that mirrors the Roman Senate so eerily to be frightening, along with organizations fighting to retain Republican (I don't mean the party, but the philosophy) virtues, ranging from the NRA to the ACLU. Yet the latter have become imperial in thought, and therein lies the deathknell of Republic, and the transition of the public soul to empire.
America is becoming an empire because we have abandoned our founding principles of liberty, and instead embraced power. Isolationism might have saved us, for it would have kept us from believing that because we 'saved the world' we had the duty -- and the right -- to guide it. But the isolationist impulse of today, the emotion-driven desire to go it alone, and the conviction that we can do so, is a disease, as are all apparent Republican virtues driven by imperial desires.
Becoming empire may ensure survival for a number of generations more, for while we cannot conquer any foe, we can crush them. Yet empire will bring a more spectacular end -- one that could be disastrous for the whole globe.
Cheney and his cohorts, and the crowds cheering for McCain, see empire as glory, as advancement. In truth, it is a sign of rot.

 

[smelter]

^ The only thing certain is that civilizations don't last forever. The nature of mankind sees to that!

 

[Willie Boy]

Of course, but empires tend to fade out slowly rather than go out with a bang: read the last paragraph of the original article:

"And the Chinese space walk may demonstrate China's progress, but also its technological lag. The US conducted its first space walk in 1965. That dates China's technology as being 43 years behind America's.

Moreover, the blunders that have put the US into diabolical difficulty are not predestined by history. They are the result of political and policy error. That means they can be solved by political and policy wisdom. America is being tested, and we will see the wisdom of its choices. The Congress has its next opportunity today. And the American people will have theirs soon enough - election day, November 4."

So America may not even have started to fade out yet. Let alone implode.

Then again, some empires do go out with a bang, like Napoleonic France and Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman empire. But some stage a comeback, like Tsarist Russia which was born again as the USSR to come back with a vengeance.

Maybe the current crisis in the USA will not kill it, but make it stronger. If it takes the right medicine in the coming years.

Actually, they are caused by simple human traits: Greed, Lust, Hatred. Empire America has grown beyond sustainable capacity and has been in the process of crumbling for decades. We have all had our eyes diverted by far too many distractions.

Of course China is behind us in the timeline, they are coming up as we go down. Don't let yourself get confused by looking at facts from the wrong angle, we American citizens have been doing that for far too long as it is.

 

[kallipolis]

After his obituary was mistakenly published, Mark Twain sent a cable from London stating "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

“Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.”

---- Oscar Wilde

 

[Kulindahr]

Hehehe.

Reminds me of this dialogue:

Mountbatten: "Mr Gandhi, what do you think of western civilization?"

Gandhi: "I think it would be a great idea."

Apocryphal probably, but fitting.

I've always loved that one!

 

[Willie Boy]

I've seen this coming a long time. All you had to do was see the signs, such as the Reign of Terror in post Revolution France, which was brought on by the Law of Suspects, which is frighteningly similar to the Patriot Act. Right now the US is in it's own Reign of Terror, one of your own making, by creating enemies outside, and spreading doubt and fear within.

But where's the terror (or would it just be terr, perpetrated by terrists, the question is, "Do they have nucular capabilities?"). I think its more like reign of Idiocy.

 

[Kulindahr]

But where's the terror (or would it just be terr, perpetrated by terrists, the question is, "Do they have nucular capabilities?"). I think its more like reign of Idiocy.

The public doesn't see the terror; only the victims and people close to them, do. Everyone else really believes that all these people really are criminals or "threats to public safety". The 'Bush Doctrine' is just an extension of the theory of law we've been growing for years, even generations: that if someone might be(come) a danger, they can be arrested on that basis. The whole "War on Drugs" is based on preemptive action, for example, and as is the case with 'gun control' laws, it really not only has no effect, but actually increases violent crime.

Even if it is a "reign of idiocy", it boils down to terror. We may not be to the point of "disappeared", as in various Latin American countries, but we are to the point of arbitrary seizure of property and ruining the lives of people who have harmed no one -- and that's imperial.