A few years back, I wrote about my concern that the United States was becoming a world empire under the policies of President George Bush – in the worst sense of that word.
As one who loves history and has read hundreds of histories and biographies in my lengthening lifetime, I agree with the late George Santayana’s sentiment carved into the wall of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. – “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Of course, as with many memorable aphorisms, William Shakespeare got there first with: “What is past is prologue.”
On my library shelves are two books I’ve read bearing on this issue of imperial America. Both are by Niall Ferguson, a Brit who is both a history professor at Harvard and a senior research fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.
His impressive book, Empire (2002 Basic Books), details the rise and fall of the British colonial empire. The parallels with present day America are there to see, enough to make a thoughtful reader more than uneasy.
I also read Ferguson’s book Colossus, subtitled The Rise and Fall of the American Empire (2004 Penguin). The author suggests that the United States already is the most powerful empire in all of history, with economic, political and military resources unequaled by any other nation, now or before.
Are We the Next Fallen Empire?
Now comes a new book that I intend to add to my summer reading list: Cullen Murphy’s Are We Rome? The author argues that we are a modern day replica of the Roman Empire, but in unexpected ways.
He says it’s not so much a declining America’s tendency toward moral decadence and our astounding military might that make us like Rome. It’s the dangerous blurring of public and private responsibilities. These shirked responsibilities paired with an inflated sense of power can blind us to what’s happening not only beyond our borders, but right here at home.
Looking across the nation and the world we should consider seriously the obvious question: Is this enormous power America holds being used wisely and well?
Official Washington, like imperial Rome, prizes its status as the city around which the world revolves, according to Are We Rome?
Yet author Colin Murphy claims there’s a crucial difference. Where Rome was all about self-satisfaction and glory, America, he says, prides itself on self-improvement and improvement of the world. It’s this optimistic quality, he believes, that may make it possible for us to reinvent ourselves instead of going the way of the ancient empire.
I hope he’s correct, but based on recent history I have my doubts.
It’s Hard to Be Optimistic When the Similarities Are So Striking
Aside from the moral objections to abusing military power to achieve laudable ends, Professor Ferguson points to the real reason the British Empire fell.
According to Ferguson, it wasn’t just the loss of colonies in India and Africa that killed the Empire. The British Empire rapidly disintegrated after World War II because the U.K.’s resources were depleted by its war against Germany. The country was worn out by massive borrowing and expenditures the U.K. couldn’t afford. It was this financial and economic over extension that drained the imperial lifeblood and caused a rapid demise.
Need we cite the tremendous human cost in American and other lives, plus the huge cost in dollars of the war in Iraq, (not to mention a possible war with Iran)?
Debt Threatening to Bury the U.S. in Our Own Complacency
Consider the precarious U.S. economic and financial position today.
If you often read the A-Letter , you already know the sad facts about the dollar, the budget and trade deficits, the seemingly limitless costs of entitlement programs, plus many billions more for the war and the military.
As of earlier this week, the U.S. national debt was US$8.8 trillion dollars (excluding billions in unfunded entitlements). That’s about US$29,901.00 for each American – and over 53% of that debt is owned by foreign interests. Throw in the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, and we have a major financial dilemma to face.
Civil Liberties Stripped Away One by One
Of course, we at The Sovereign Society are concerned particularly with the unjustified intrusions by the government into offshore financial matters and the destruction of personal and financial privacy.
Curbing civil liberties of all kinds has been a hallmark of the Bush administration. From U.S. military intrusions into civilian life, by taking over what once were domestic police activities and data gathering, to the unconstitutional wiretapping of phones and the detention of U.S. citizens for years without charges, once rigorously guarded freedoms have been stripped away one by one.
Another historian, Edward Gibbons wrote his classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , which interestingly was first published in 1776, the year of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence. Gibbons eloquently made the case that most historic empires last for just about 200 years before eventual decline and collapse.
By that measure, the American Empire is 31 years past due. Think about that when the fireworks go off this July 4th.
As one who loves history and has read hundreds of histories and biographies in my lengthening lifetime, I agree with the late George Santayana’s sentiment carved into the wall of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. – “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Of course, as with many memorable aphorisms, William Shakespeare got there first with: “What is past is prologue.”
On my library shelves are two books I’ve read bearing on this issue of imperial America. Both are by Niall Ferguson, a Brit who is both a history professor at Harvard and a senior research fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.
His impressive book, Empire (2002 Basic Books), details the rise and fall of the British colonial empire. The parallels with present day America are there to see, enough to make a thoughtful reader more than uneasy.
I also read Ferguson’s book Colossus, subtitled The Rise and Fall of the American Empire (2004 Penguin). The author suggests that the United States already is the most powerful empire in all of history, with economic, political and military resources unequaled by any other nation, now or before.
Are We the Next Fallen Empire?
Now comes a new book that I intend to add to my summer reading list: Cullen Murphy’s Are We Rome? The author argues that we are a modern day replica of the Roman Empire, but in unexpected ways.
He says it’s not so much a declining America’s tendency toward moral decadence and our astounding military might that make us like Rome. It’s the dangerous blurring of public and private responsibilities. These shirked responsibilities paired with an inflated sense of power can blind us to what’s happening not only beyond our borders, but right here at home.
Looking across the nation and the world we should consider seriously the obvious question: Is this enormous power America holds being used wisely and well?
Official Washington, like imperial Rome, prizes its status as the city around which the world revolves, according to Are We Rome?
Yet author Colin Murphy claims there’s a crucial difference. Where Rome was all about self-satisfaction and glory, America, he says, prides itself on self-improvement and improvement of the world. It’s this optimistic quality, he believes, that may make it possible for us to reinvent ourselves instead of going the way of the ancient empire.
I hope he’s correct, but based on recent history I have my doubts.
It’s Hard to Be Optimistic When the Similarities Are So Striking
Aside from the moral objections to abusing military power to achieve laudable ends, Professor Ferguson points to the real reason the British Empire fell.
According to Ferguson, it wasn’t just the loss of colonies in India and Africa that killed the Empire. The British Empire rapidly disintegrated after World War II because the U.K.’s resources were depleted by its war against Germany. The country was worn out by massive borrowing and expenditures the U.K. couldn’t afford. It was this financial and economic over extension that drained the imperial lifeblood and caused a rapid demise.
Need we cite the tremendous human cost in American and other lives, plus the huge cost in dollars of the war in Iraq, (not to mention a possible war with Iran)?
Debt Threatening to Bury the U.S. in Our Own Complacency
Consider the precarious U.S. economic and financial position today.
If you often read the A-Letter , you already know the sad facts about the dollar, the budget and trade deficits, the seemingly limitless costs of entitlement programs, plus many billions more for the war and the military.
As of earlier this week, the U.S. national debt was US$8.8 trillion dollars (excluding billions in unfunded entitlements). That’s about US$29,901.00 for each American – and over 53% of that debt is owned by foreign interests. Throw in the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, and we have a major financial dilemma to face.
Civil Liberties Stripped Away One by One
Of course, we at The Sovereign Society are concerned particularly with the unjustified intrusions by the government into offshore financial matters and the destruction of personal and financial privacy.
Curbing civil liberties of all kinds has been a hallmark of the Bush administration. From U.S. military intrusions into civilian life, by taking over what once were domestic police activities and data gathering, to the unconstitutional wiretapping of phones and the detention of U.S. citizens for years without charges, once rigorously guarded freedoms have been stripped away one by one.
Another historian, Edward Gibbons wrote his classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , which interestingly was first published in 1776, the year of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence. Gibbons eloquently made the case that most historic empires last for just about 200 years before eventual decline and collapse.
By that measure, the American Empire is 31 years past due. Think about that when the fireworks go off this July 4th.
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