The Myths of American Imperialism

The United States of America is a world empire. A century ago Teddy Roosevelt expressly campaigned for the expansion of American empire, and today we have all the hallmarks of empire. We have units of our military stationed all over the world. We use our military to enforce what our leaders say are our national interests anywhere in the world with little concern for international law, as when we violated international law by launching a war of aggression against Iraq. Our politicians clamor for the restoration and preservation of “American leadership” in the world, by which they clearly mean American domination over other countries in our own interests, particularly our short-term economic interests. Our military budget is nearly as big as the military budgets of very other nation in the world combined. We act as the world’s policeman, and we are able to and do interject ourselves into remote conflicts that affect us only indirectly. The way in which it is simply assumed that the United States plays a major role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for example, demonstrates our status as the dominant world empire.