Is the United States of America an Empire?

[denison]

Originally Posted by jertheber

There are any number of books written by CIA types who admit to intervening in foreign elections, starting riots in foreign nations, flooding foreign countries with bogus money to destroy that countries currency, empires are not always going to look the same throughout our history, but the end result usually remains the same. There are ongoing discussions that allude to the fear of the dollar losing it's key currency status, this will be interesting to watch, it will also demonstrate the power of empire to create consensus with the "big stick".

Could you name me a book that mention such activities. So much for promoting freedom and democracy abroad.

[jtur88]

The USA has seven unattached or overseas territories and states, with populations over 50,000 each. France also has seven, Britain has only one, and I don't think any other country has more than one. I guess that makes us tied for first as an imperial power. (I arbitrarily set 50,000 population, so as to exclude remote islands that are uninhabited or with insufficient population to be self governing.) Portugal might have two, depending how you define "overseas".

[recycled]

Denmark has the largest "overseas empire" in size, Greenland. Portugal was one of the leading empire nations because of it's former maritime power, but those colonies are long gone. I don't know how the Azores and Cape Verde Islands are classified (territories or actual offshore provinces?). Spain has two walled in city-colonies on the coast of Morocco. Russia's land empire is mostly intact from the era of the Czars, but they still have one unattached enclave republic (Kalaningrad, formerly part of Germany - East Prussia) which sits between Poland and Lithuania.

I think France wins the prize for the most far flung empire. Society Islands in the South Pacific, French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, Martinique, a few islands off the coast of Atlantic Canada, Corsica (Island in the Mediterranean).

[Huckleberry3911948]

yes, in decline.

[jtur88]

Portugal's Azores and Madeira are the equivalent of our Hawaii, and Portugal does not retain any other overseas lands. France also has some overseas departments, equivalent to Hawaii, and also some lesser territories. I used population as a basis, not territory. Russia has no detached territories, except offshore islands, comparable to Nantucket and Key West. Spain has the Canary and Balearic Islands, equivalent to Hawaii, and also a couple of enclaves on the coast of North Africa, that are actually visible from Spain proper.

[Memphis1979]

WWII was over in 1946. We still have troops in Germany and Japan. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their grave for our "policing" the world.

The idea was to not have a standing army. Contrary to popular belief, the use of a standing army isn't for protection, its generally used for population control. Think about it, if the majority of the American people were so upset with the government that we wanted to physically take it back, how quick would the army be called in to quell the revolt?

Now I know we need some military, and many of the technological advances to stay ahead of the curve on weaponry. But that doesn't mean we need the size of the military that we have, and it doesn't mean we should be staying in countries for decades after the war is over.

Sure seems like a Empire to me.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Memphis1979

Our founding fathers are rolling over in their grave

" . . . Slave woman on top!" --- Chris Rock