Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-25-2011, 11:09 AM
 
18,228 posts, read 16,841,591 times
Reputation: 7533

Advertisements

I wrack my brains and I cannot come up with a logical answer.

Oil? Then why are we still dependent on oil imports?

Loot? Then why are still in debt several miles above our heads?

Geo-political? Do we just prefer to be in certain positions in the world like pieces on a chessboard?

Empire-building? Do we just want the name America stamped on most foreign countries.

Altruism? Do we want the world to be democratic, even though we have less true democracy than most other countries?

Or is it just something as mundane as making the MIC as rich as Congress can get away with?

I mean where is our payoff for all this money we're spending?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-25-2011, 11:12 AM
 
9,727 posts, read 9,707,977 times
Reputation: 6407
The world is our playground. Everywhere is a tourist destination for our way of life.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 11:38 AM
 
Location: Sinking in the Great Salt Lake
13,139 posts, read 22,761,037 times
Reputation: 14116
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte View Post
I wrack my brains and I cannot come up with a logical answer.
It's just a complex, multlayered case of "dominant vs submissive ape". The dominant ape gets all the perks, benefits and pleasures of being in charge.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte View Post
Oil? Then why are we still dependent on oil imports?
Because our whole civilization still revolves around oil, a fininte resource that is only getting more scarce and difficult to extract as time goes on.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte View Post
Loot? Then why are still in debt several miles above our heads?
Mere numbers on a computer screen. Real wealth is control of/distrbution of resources. A physical dollar bill is just the carrot dangled in front of the donkey, wealth is the stuff in the car the donkey is pulling around and the fact the donkey is pulling it from point A to point B to exchange for better stuff. The donkey is everyone who thinks it would be great to have that carrot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte View Post
Geo-political? Do we just prefer to be in certain positions in the world like pieces on a chessboard?


Empire-building? Do we just want the name America stamped on most foreign countries.
Yet again, those are means of acquiring and excercising control of said resources.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte View Post
Altruism? Do we want the world to be democratic, even though we have less true democracy than most other countries?
Tit for tat? Another strategy with the same ultimate end; help when we can spare it because we'll get help when we need it for our own benefit down the road.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte View Post
Or is it just something as mundane as making the MIC as rich as Congress can get away with?

I mean where is our payoff for all this money we're spending?
You and me get to sit on our couches, eat dorritos, watch 500 channels after work and drive our SUVs to the gas station with minimal interruption. That's our reward. The Man gets to feel like he's the master of universe (but can't see he's really the "Lord of the Flies" in the grand scheme of things). Silly monkeys!

Last edited by Chango; 03-25-2011 at 11:51 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 11:43 AM
 
16,545 posts, read 13,429,306 times
Reputation: 4241
The question should be, how come the majority of countries out there are savage nations?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 11:46 AM
 
Location: Boston, MA
14,466 posts, read 11,245,012 times
Reputation: 8983
Yes. Midway, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Palau, The USVI, and Wake Island are an empire any emperor would envy.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 12:20 PM
 
18,228 posts, read 16,841,591 times
Reputation: 7533
Let's get more specific:

What are we accomplishing in Iraq? Did we get any oil out of the occupation? Did we stop the advance of communism? Did we bring a lasting democracy there? All I can see we accomplished was to run up a trillion dollars in debt, most of that money going to the munitions makers.

What are we accomplishing in Afghanistan? Did we eliminate the Taliban? Bin Laden? Did we bring lasting democracy? Did we get control of the Caspian oil basin? Again, all I can see we accomplished was to run up another trillion dollars in debt, most of that money going to the munitions makers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 12:30 PM
 
Location: On a Long Island in NY
7,801 posts, read 10,085,987 times
Reputation: 7366
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ar_areas-B.png
^ not much of an empire if you ask me.

Try again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 12:48 PM
 
Location: Littleton, CO
20,893 posts, read 16,049,604 times
Reputation: 3954
I do not believe we are Imperialists in any meaningful sense of the world.

I just think that we have very big feet, and are sometimes careless about where we step.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 01:34 PM
 
10,545 posts, read 13,562,785 times
Reputation: 2823
"I mean, it was not soft power that freed Europe. It was hard power. And what followed immediately after hard power? Did the United States ask for dominion over a single nation in Europe? No. Soft power came in the Marshall Plan. Soft power came with American GIs who put their weapons down once the war was over and helped all those nations rebuild. We did the same thing in Japan.

So our record of living our values and letting our values be an inspiration to others I think is clear. And I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world. [Applause.]

We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we've done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works."

Colin Powell
January 26, 2003
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2011, 03:51 PM
 
Location: Texas
38,859 posts, read 25,466,073 times
Reputation: 24780
Lightbulb Why Are We Imperialist?

This guy warned us 50 years ago.

We should have listened.

I liked Ike

Videos - Free video downloads and streaming video - CNET TV
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:46 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top