Our Empire Implodes Our Nation
© by Gary Wood
November 9, 2007

Many citizens of the United States are uneasy with the level of challenges facing them everyday.  Turning on the news people see infrastructure problems from collapsing bridges to porous borders being breached by illegal aliens weakening daily lives.  The concerns over proper health care, job losses to overseas countries, mounting debts, and bulging bureaucracies create a sense of concern that our once powerful, sovereign nation is weakening at an alarming rate.   As prices soar, the dollar weakens, and recession looms some are wondering just how this could be happening.  What are the root causes?

A key factor driving these problems is the global empire which is more difficult and costly to sustain.  In reading this many will quickly state the U.S. is not an empire for there is no emperor, no conquest of territory, no desire for control of far away lands, no match to the definition of what an empire is.  Still others will read this and agree there is an argument for the U.S. to be considered an empire due to the very nature of our foreign policy efforts to influence and control nations around the world.  In splitting hairs one can argue the term ‘hegemony’ or predominant influence of our nation over others is more accurate than empire.  Regardless, as we spread our military influence around the globe our nation becomes weaker and more in debt everyday.

Today the leading Republican candidate to become President, Rudy Giuliani, in a speech at Iowa State University said our military is too small thanks to Bill Clinton.  He discussed the need for a military build up that would "send a very strong signal to China and then Russia ... that it doesn't make sense to challenge us."  While this type of sentiment sends a message to our patriotic heart it also indicates a desire from the many representatives attempting to become our future leaders that we must sustain our efforts for world influence and dominance through military intervention.

Yet, is it really necessary for a country like China to challenge us militarily when they own us financially?  China is second to only Japan in the amount of U.S. debt it holds over us in the form of U.S. dollar reserves.  Should it cease to invest in the U.S. dollar and demand payment of the debt economic demise would occur and the country wanting to influence the world militarily would falter economically as our currency would accelerate in its drop against foreign currencies such as the Euro, Yen and Canadian dollar.

Russia’s President Putin has been able to open discussions with Iran and Caspian Sea nations regarding military alliances.  The reason he has renewed strength in these discussions is directly tied to the threats he can draw attention to from U.S. military involvement in the Middle East.  Keep in mind it was only 5 years ago that Iran and Russia were supporters of the United States after the tragedy of 9/11.  In the short span which followed the U.S. military actions in Iraq combined with the saber rattling calls for Iranian compliance to U.S. will regarding nuclear energy and armaments within Iran spawned the ability for Russia to once again build itself as a military partner to combat the spread of U.S. aggression.  It is easy for regional concern to be elevated since the U.S. policy clearly appears to be threatening each nation involved within the region.

While the threat of military influence grows outside the U.S. within our country patriotism is called into question if any voice is raised regarding our expansion of influence due to the perceived need for anti-terrorism efforts to stop attacks on U.S. soil.  Every citizen wants to protect our way of life.  No individual dares to speak against the war on terror for it would be clearly unpatriotic.  There is an inherent need to stand against radical terrorists who desire to inflict devastation within our borders.  As the call for defense on the world stage grows internal protection continues to be weakened.  We willingly spend dollars and lives in foreign lands as our nation becomes increasingly susceptible to economic destruction.

We are told there is growing threats from Iran, Russia, China, Palestine, and all who dare support the Islamic, Muslim extremists whose focus is on the end of our way of life.  We embolden our resolve to fight against these terrorists while internally we disintegrate.  The military industrial complex continues its march toward improved retaliation against enemies yet we are blinded from the fact the enemy may well be our own policy in dealing with the world we live in.  If one dare call for non-intervention policies one is labeled an isolationist.   If one dare to voice a need to withdraw our military from other countries and bring them home for internal defense one is labeled a misguided pacifist.

As the military expansionist programs evolve there is growth among the defense contractors thus there is a growth in our defense, or so it is sold to the population.  Any patriotic citizen who dares to question the military actions around the world is seen as either uninformed or unpatriotic so the deception of empirical expansion continues uninhibited by facts.  Our empire continues to implode our nation unimpeded by logic or questioning since to question our actions is to be a stance of unpatriotic isolationism.

While this logical approach to the future expands in influence the national strength will, in fact, weaken.  Homeless veterans are not questioned about their thoughts on our international direction.  Veterans attempting to live their lives on the streets of the U.S. are overlooked much as the everyday citizens striving for individual prosperity are ignored.  Our nation marches on toward a future of struggles and pain.  Fuel costs, mortgage expense, family interaction, daily life, and national sovereignty become a mere by-line in the news. 

Our nation implodes despite our leader’s rhetoric of strength and prosperity.  Leaders fail to touch daily efforts from citizens.  Representatives cannot comprehend their neighbors’ struggles each and every day.  Neighbors understand life is changing on the streets of reality.  Reality is facing the challenges ignored by leadership.  Leadership cannot or will not accept the fact our nation is weakening as our empire attempts to expand.  Give us the power to deal with our world fairly, without national bias, and we can begin to recover our patriotic pride.  We embrace our world and our world embraces our needs. 

When we find the leadership that understands our empire implodes our nation we can once again become the dominant light of freedom that shows the way toward prosperity.  Should we fail to lead we shall surely fail and our nation will follow history into defeat.  In the words of James Madison, "Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these precede debts and taxes...known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."