Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

In the history of global hegemons and empires, a common theme is always apparent: while their military power is always a source of awe and national pride, it is always directly related to their ultimate undoing. That is no surprise to retrospective observers, as there seems to be a common understanding that expansionism and imperialism are ultimately unstable policies. But for some strange reason, this clear logic always seems to elude those presently pursuing global dominance, as modern-day America undeniably is. And it isn’t for lack of forceful voices speaking out in opposition, as critics of American imperialism go back to the very embryo of our current expansionist tendencies. In a lecture untitled The Conquest of the United States by Spain, Yale sociologist William Graham Sumner eloquently stated the case immediately following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War:

We have beaten Spain in a military conflict, but we are submitting to be conquered by her on the field of ideas and policies. Expansionism and imperialism are nothing but the old philosophies of national prosperity which have brought Spain to where she now is. Those philosophies appeal to national vanity and national cupidity. They are seductive, especially upon the first view and the most superficial judgment, and therefore it cannot be denied that they are very strong for popular effect. They are delusions, and they will lead us to ruin unless we are hard-headed enough to resist them.

Indeed, Sumner and his contemporaneous confreres would be severely disheartened by the current state of American foreign policy. What they were witnessing, and indeed horrified by, was America’s metamorphosis from a republic into a comparatively mild empire that was mostly constricted to the Western Hemisphere. Nowadays America prides itself on being the “sole-superpower”, a global hegemon that sees little, if any, legitimate restrictions on its power and influence. Needless to say, anti-imperialists have run headlong into the narcissitic character the American people share with all militarized societies in their attempt to point out the obvious consequences of perpetual war. Our continuing colonial clusterfuck in Iraq is an obvious contemporary example of this.

We know, of course, about the latest events known in the news as “The Basra Offensive”. For the uninitiated, which would include presidential warrior hopeful John McCain, this was where the government being propped up by American forces proved it was essentially worthless, and the occupiers themselves once again demonstrated their own impotence. Fierce opponent of the American occupation, Muqtada al-Sadr, emerged as the clear victor. In the midst of all this, McCain is urging a 100-year occupation of the country modeled after post-war holdings in Korea and Japan. As if talk of perpetual occupation of a country torn by sectarian warfare wasn’t enough, the Bush-McCain succession is already putting us in danger of another, much bigger conflict. Not just in Iran, but in the former Soviet bloc, as they are pushing for expansion of NATO to include Ukraine and Georgia. Two countries which are, as of right now, the sites of conflict between pro-Russian regions and the broader state, such as South Ossetia in Georgia. McCain has already taken sides in that particular conflict. Amazingly, in the midst of our embroilment in seemingly endless mid-east conflicts, the foreign policy elite in this country appears determined to reignite the Cold War. The potential for a conflict with Russia, especially over regional conflicts that are of no legitimate interests to the United States, should scare every American. Such a conflict would make Iraq and Afghanistan look like a game of Candy Land.

Writer Randolf Bourne once made the observation that war was the “health of the state”. I would disagree, war is much more like a steroid habit. No matter how high the highest seems in the midst of it, abusers inevtibly have the face the long-term consequences of their excesses.