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Originally Posted by Frame57
America was and never will be an "empire". We do not own nor occupy the countries we battled in WW2. We have been allies with great Britain even though sought Independance from them. After WWI we went through the great depression to only arise stronger than before. This is but a bump in the road and will not stymy the strength of this great nation.
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Sorry, but your use of the term empire seem to be a very narrow one, but the term as it is used to describe various constellations in history, beyond doubt qualifies america for being an empire. Note that the term includes dominat positions of control in the world of trade, traffic, finance, cultural dominance, legal values. An empire is not only about invading places, occupy territories with armies, and shooting at things that wear the wrong colours. An empire does not limit itself to the meaning and form of the european colonialism. And empires also only survived for longer times if they included these components - military force alone only gave them a certain time - and not more.
there are also many parallels between America and various empires, namely rome, regarding the way in which their econmies developed, changed and collapsed, and how they organised the flow of goods and items inside the empire according to the desired centralisation of traffic directions of goods and items, the systems of traffic, and flow patterns of wealth and goods made the city of rome, and the italian peninsula, their goal. the parallels here to america, are stunning, and educating.
If I label the US an empire, I do not necessarily always mean it as an offense, or a brandmarking. I just use a wider historial understanding of the term.
It's a pity that this book has not been translated, it is a top prime lecture on the term and it's historic realities:
http://www.amazon.de/Imperien-Logik-...2981745&sr=8-2