[Psalm 144]

“America is an empire?”

If we were, it would be an improvement. Post WWII, we have committed to all of the military and economic obligations of an empire, with none of the dividends. We have created a unique and noxious fusion of the most costly aspects of an empire and a not for profit charity, on a global scale.

It will kill us in the end.

[Alberta's Child]

Make no mistake about it -- the U.S. is an "empire" in every sense of the word. No, we don't conquer foreign lands and lord over them as our possessions . . . but we expend enormous resources engaging in military campaigns all over the globe for the sole purpose of maintaining a global business climate with the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency.

I read somewhere recently that U.S. Customs has personnel in something like 120 countries around the world -- for the sole purpose of supporting safe, efficient trade with the U.S. That is a clear indicator of an "empire," in my opinion.

[Leaning Right]

You wrote: “we have committed to all of the military and economic obligations of an empire, with none of the dividends.”

Right you are, and that is the point Buchanan was trying to make. I really don’t understand why so many folks here are getting upset by that.

Since 1945, the USA has felt it necessary to have a presence all over the globe. Well, if you have troops here there and everywhere, you’ve got an empire.

One can make an argument that the USA is doing this for all the right reasons.

But every overstreached “empire” has eventually fallen. It’s just too expensive, and it distracts from problems close to home.

That is what Buchanan is warning about.