Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Melinda Barton: We Don't Have What It Takes

I've been absorbed in some compelling reading courtesy of The Raw Story. Melinda Barton says we don't have the right stuff to be a global empire. Fortunately or otherwise, as the case may be. Well worth a read. American Empire: Fallen before it ever came to be:
The American Empire. Pax Americana. The fervent dream of the ruling party. The nightmare of its opponents. Today’s political discourse is rife with tales of this mythical beast rising from the back rooms of Washington to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting citizens of the world.

Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately,) we just don’t have what it takes to become the latest empire. In the meantime, as we pursue the right wing’s pipe dream, American hegemony, the more benevolent albeit weaker younger brother of empire, is spiraling to its destruction. The American Empire is falling before it has even truly risen.
And more here.