>SNIP
>>Someone, alot smarter than me, recently pointed out that the American Empire is just an extension of the British Empire. While the British Empire declined the American one rose, its actually reasonable to just view them as one in the same.
>
>I would not call that person smarter than you. In fact, I would call him uninformed. Look at the the actions of the U.S. overseas - good and bad - and look at the history of the once British Empire and there is no comparison. We have definitely stuck our nose where it does not belong and stayed longer than was needed, but at least we did not murder hundreds of thousands of natives, take over the country and its government, and monepolized their production. The two countries that we could be acused of 'ruling' or 'occupying' (although that is a poor interpretation and is only used to put a more negative spin on it) are still in their infancy stage with no established government and successful police force to maintain security. In two or three years it can be reviewed again and scrutinized in compared to the British past but it is still to early for those. That does not take into consideration our history of supporting insurgents in other countries but we never took over
>those countries and ran them and controled the locals for own benefit as other countries have done. As for England, Egypt and cotton come immediately to mind... let's not forget the Sudan, India, and on and on and on...

Tracy;

I guess it all depends upon your perspective.

England existed for many centuries before becoming a world domineering Empire. We are still a young nation.

Remember some of our “territories” and international exploits, which include The Mexican American War which enlarged our nations western boundaries, The Spanish American War, which gave us Cuba, and The Philippines. Add to the list American Samoa, Baker Island, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnson Atoll, Kingman Reef, Common wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Wake Island. How did Hawaii become a part of the United States? We still have a military presence in Europe and Asia.

Then there are our exploits in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Asia. The Monroe Doctrine gives us the right to do as we please in the Americas. The “Domino Theory”, gave us the right to fight in Vietnam.

As a nation from a historical perspective we rationalize our conquests based upon the emotion of the moment as well as what profits we may reap. The list goes on.

Perhaps we have not chosen our conquests as well as the British did but again we are a young nation. I think we killed our share of men, women and childern in the name of freedom and Democracy. As one example I seem to recall 3 million Vietnamese who died while we "assisted South Vietnam"

Manifest Destiny. Today K-Mart – tomorrow the world! Freedom, Democracy, and Capitalism for all. We know what is best for the world and we will create the world in our image. To think otherwise is to not be a good American! :)

Tom