I think what muddies the argument and hence makes it unproductive is the word "empire" (and the "imperialism" label ) has historic meaning that doesn't fit current global reality. It is used now to attempt to score political points but otherwise has no meaning other than what the polemicist thinks he's bundled with it.
The US hegemony in some areas can be argued. Our dependence on global realities we can't control (as much as some of us might like to) is another reality. Like most things, it is more complex than bumper-sticker polemics can do justice to.
(and yes, I know that a preposition is a bad word to end a sentence with <s> )
>
>You don't agree there is an American empire then?
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
