Exiting The Stage

THE UNITED STATES was destined to be an empire, the continent destined first to be overrun by land hungry Europeans, then to form a European style nation replacing the existing one, and then, to emerge strong, well protected by water and well provided with natural resources, mainly farmable land. having achieve all that, the question is now, and long has been; what to do with it, what to do with this North american based global empire? The American colonials defied their English overlords, and set out across the Appalachians. From that point limitations vanished. The first indication of impending empire was the Monroe doctrine of 1823, which forbade anyone but the U.S. from having anything to do with Latin America. Fat chance. Its bark has always been louder than its bite. Every European nation has, at one time or another, meddled in Latin America, in direct defiance of american bluster; today, its china's turn. There has never been a damned thing we could do about it, then, and now. The Civil War the nation's long term survival in one piece, and ushered in the industrial revolution, necessary for empire formation. the United States now had the resolve and the means to implement its overseas ambitions. James K. Polk had already stolen half of Mexico. Expansion to the pacific presaged overseas conquests. William McKinley got the juggernaut rolling in earnest; provoking a war with declining Spain, and stealing Cuba, and other former Spanish possessions. Teddy Roosevelt reaffirmed our war mongering aggressive tendencies, and the two world wars left the United States the undisputed superpower of the world, with Europe and Russia in ruins, and China yet to emerge. And so here we are, with a decision looming; what, exactly is an empire which for all intents and purposes is bankrupt, to do with itself, in the face of rapidly emerging China, and reemerging Russia? At some point, exactly when is debatable, the U.S. decided it wanted to rule the world. The Teddy Roosevelt administration is a good choice, as is the Truman administration, bent of opposing communism wherever. that's a tall order, and needs imperial backing. Should America try to hold its ground, further expand, or retreat back into a mild mannered republic it was originally intended to be? It is no longer the undisputed most powerful economic nation on earth, and in order to remain so militarily will have to either increase its material production dramatically, or go further into bankrupt debt. There are no easy answers. All empires eventually collapse, mostly from within, which appears to be a very realistic option for the United States.