THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume V, Issue # 297, December 11, 2003
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE AMERICAN EMPIRE: U.S. FOREIGN & MILITARY POLICY
By Alan Caruba
The generation for whom the latter half of the last century represents their view of the world is now wondering about the world in
which their grandchildren will live. It will be very different for a lot of reasons, but the most dramatic will be the American Empire.
It will be a world in which America doesn’t merely participate in great issues and events, but dictates them. It will be a world in
which the hope for worldwide constitutional democracy is no longer a sterile US foreign policy, but an active, militant one.
Historian Paul Johnson has written a commentary, “America’s New Empire for Liberty”, posted on the website of Stanford
University’s Hoover Institution. The notion that America has become an empire may be off-putting to some, but the reality of
this is hard to ignore or refute.
When the President of the United States can travel halfway around the world to share a few hours with the frontline troops in
Baghdad on Thanksgiving, it sends a signal to the Middle East and the rest of the world that he can move around at will, despite
widespread opposition, even to the capital of a nation we liberated with the help of a “coalition of the willing.”
A week or so earlier, he was in London, where a desultory crowd of Euro-trash and British Communists did their best to stage a
march that fizzled with a turnout far below their predictions. In Europe, only France and Germany remain opposed to our Iraq
invasion. At the United Nations, Bush has made clear that the U.S.A. will not acquiesce to its politics of accommodation with
despots. Bush is making sure that friend and foe alike is getting the message that our foreign policy has changed since 9-11.
A sea change has occurred and the attack on our home soil has forever changed our view of ourselves and of the historic
mission of our nation. Historian Paul Johnson calls this a “defensive imperialism” that “specifically repudiates imperialism” as
defined by the attempt of one nation to invade and control others, and replaces it with the realization that oceans and distance
no longer provide protection against our enemies. We invade to protect ourselves and, in a larger sense, Western civilization.
This offers real hope at last to the billions of people around the world who are still in the grip of totalitarian regimes and petty
despots like Saddam Hussein. It is an assertive policy that says the days of self-appointed monarchs like the House of Saud,
the African strong men like Robert Mugabe, and others are numbered.
Johnson cites a number of reasons for this beyond the objective of self-defense. “America has the language of the twenty-first
century.” Just as Latin and Greek were the languages of past empires, “A more secure world will be legislated for, policed, and
adjudicated in English.”
Those of us who worry about our national sovereignty, challenged most significantly by the United Nations and world
domination by the failed economic theories of Communism and Socialism, have watched and listened as President Bush clearly
asserted that the United States will act alone or in combination with other freedom-loving nations to insure that our sovereignty
is protected, along with theirs.
He has sounded the death knell of the United Nations, as that penultimate imperialistic institution has demonstrated its
unwillingness and inability to effect needed changes to advance freedom. The UN has proven so cowardly that a single attack
on its Iraq headquarters caused it to immediately withdraw. Its various conferences have become the source of mockery, as they
pretend to address worldwide problems.
Its unwillingness and inability to achieve its goal of world peace is a reminder of the failure of the League of Nations that
followed World War I.
The “war on terrorism” is a war on militant, fanatical Islam. Even Muslim nations have concluded it threatens them as well.
Despite being the religion of more than a billion people worldwide, Islam’s future depends on its ability to adapt to the
twenty-first century and, without an internal Reformation, its future is in question.
Another factor Johnson notes is the way “America’s production of world wealth, both absolutely and relatively, is accelerating.
In the last quarter of the twentieth century, it added $5 trillion to its annual GDP. By 2050 the U.S. share of global output will
constitute more than a quarter of the world total and will be as much as three times as big, for instance, as that of the European
Union.” Indeed, one only has to patiently wait for the EU to come to an inevitable end, as it seeks to challenge American
dominance. It will implode as its economic policies and political cohesion implodes.
This end is driven by demographics. “There is a marked and growing contrast between Old Europe and young America,” says
Johnson, “And the combination of accelerating technology and an expanding workforce will be irresistible in terms of economic
and military power.” The creation of the Department of Homeland Security is a reflection of the America’s need to insure our
ability to resist attacks from al-Qa'ida. Indeed, our presence in the Middle East has already reduced its ability to mount such
attacks and have driven its leaders into hiding, as they are hunted by every nation that has a stake in the success of the war on
terrorism. “Dead man walking” is an apt description of Osama bin Laden and his cohorts.
None of this could have been envisioned before 9-11. America sustained attacks on its troops and even its diplomats since the
late 1970s and its former policies failed to deter those attacks. A renewed American optimism, combined with its new policies,
is reflected in our economy and our willingness to destroy our enemies.
Changes are reflected here at home by our growing population. Unlike virtually every other nation, America not only has a high
birth rate, but we absorb new immigrants on a scale that no other nation on Earth rivals. “By contrast,” writes Johnson, Europe’s
population will shrink and the percentage of working age will fall rapidly.” America, notes Johnson, “has never exported people
overseas. On the contrary, its growing power and wealth have reflected its ability to attract and absorb immigrants.” As the
working populations of Japan, Russia, and the EU nations decline, ours is growing. Only Great Britain and Ireland will increase
their working population by 2050. Little wonder that it is the most significant ally we have.
Lastly, the notion of an American empire, the nexus and exporter of constitutional democracy, was anticipated by its Founding
Fathers. George Washington spoke of “the rising American empire” and Thomas Jefferson said that America was “an empire for
liberty.” Johnson, however, notes that America “will not share its sovereignty with anyone. It will continue to promote
international efforts of proven worth” but “it will not allow the United Nations or any other organization to infringe on its
natural right to defend itself as it sees fit.”
Welcome to the dawn of the American Empire.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
The Middle East & the Arabs
The Threat of Radical Islam
More on the Threat of Radical Islam
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, Communications Director of the American Policy Center,
and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly
column, "Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center
(www.anxietycenter.com). A compilation of his past col- umns, entitled Warning Signs, is published by Merril Press. In addition
to Warning Signs, Caruba is the author of A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam and The United Na- tions vs. the United States,
both of which are available from the National Anxiety Center, 9 Brookside Road, Maplewood, New Jersey, 07040.
Copyright 2003 Alan Caruba
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity