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Welcome
to Imperial America
November
28, 2001
by Jerald Cumbus (JCMach1)
"Thus, before our own time, the customs of our ancestors
produced excellent men, and eminent men preserved our ancient
customs and the institutions of their forefathers. But through
the republic, when it came to us, was like a beautiful painting,
whose colours, however, were already fading with age, our
own time not only has neglected to freshen it by renewing
the original colors, but has not even taken the trouble to
preserve its configuration and, so to speak, its general outlines.
For what is now left of the 'ancient customs'... They have
been, as we see, so completely buried in oblivion that they
are not only no longer practiced, but are already unknown.
And what shall I say of the men? ... For it is through our
own faults, not by any accident, that we retain only the form
of the commonwealth, but have long since lost its substance."
- Cicero
Since September 11th there have been a number of people (especially
on the Left) who have called George W. Bush's ruthless grab
for power Nazi-like. A number of these people (and you know
who you are) have put forward many theories about how the
current situation we find ourselves involved in is like the
rise of the National Socialists in the 1930s. While I think
a number of interesting points have been made, I believe the
operative historical precedent isn't the rise of the Nazi.
The key to understanding our current situation can be found
much farther back in history: the fall of the Roman Republic.
"In the city the landless urban population was now engaged
in various kinds of production and services. So long as the
consumer market was being increased - by providing for the
war machine, by the need for new buildings and engineering
works in the city - and by satisfying the growing sophistication
of the urban population itself - there was enough work to
keep the city dwellers employed and quiet" (Cunliffe
90-91). So it went in the Roman Republic and so it goes in
America today.
Much like the growth the Romans faced with the First and
Second Punic Wars, America in the 20th Century was forced
by circumstances and sometimes necessity to expand its military
power across the globe. After the Second World War, that power
led to a specific American led hegemony in Europe in the form
of NATO. Military hegemony led directly to an American economic
hegemony. Eventually becoming the multi-national corporations
we have today, the tentacles of American economic Imperialism
spread across the globe. Nothing could resist the force of
this globalization of American Empire.
Those who did resist became pariah states or worse. Take
for example the last 40 years of Cuban history. Or, take the
ousting and subsequent murder of Salvador Allende in Chile
by CIA operatives. America guarded its empire zealously under
Republican and Democratic presidents. In Vietnam, two Democratic
administrations and one Republican one fought a war to ensure
American dominance of Southeast Asia. Defeated, one might
have thought that the Empire had been taught a lesson. Just
like the Roman Republic though, we took our defeats and further
mastered the art of waging war in pursuit of Empire.
Similar to the Republic, America has formed itself from an
ever-increasing expansion of the notion of citizenship. In
early Rome, local peoples in Italy found themselves homogenized
into the melting-pot of Roman society. Like the American ideal,
the Roman ideals of government created a nation and a way
of life. In a kind of Imperialist 'mission creep' those values
eventually morphed into the militarist Imperialism of the
present day and of the past. Instead of accepting difference
as an important value in a citizen or a political ally, Rome
began accepting only blind allegiance to its directives. Is
this any different from America today?
Eisenhower's farewell speech in which he warned of the growing
power of the military industrial complex should have much
resonance today. By Eisenhower's time, it had become clear
that America's Imperial goals were being permanently instilled
in our society in the name of National Security. Switzerland
has almost perfect National Security. In America National
Security equals the preservation of the American Empire at
any cost. While I could argue who is Marius and who is Sulla,
I propose there is something much greater at stake in the
loss of our civil liberties and the stolen selection of George
W. Bush as President: we risk losing Democracy itself if we
follow the path of Imperialism. It doesn't happen overnight.
It moves from Marius to Sulla and to Caesar. And while Augustus
is not too bad, it also gives us Caligula and Nero. This is
the same anti-Democratic system that has given us George W.
Bush.
As Cicero argues, if we do not act it is our own fault. These
acts cannot stand in a true Democracy. Getting rid of Bush
alone will not do, the mechanisms of Imperialism must be dismantled
in our country. If we fail at this, another will rise in his
place. We cannot forget that the blades that killed Caesar
engendered in the womb of Rome the Imperial state. In these
times we indeed find that the price of freedom is eternal
vigilance.
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