Those of us who have been involved in secessionism have become accustomed to the United States being referred to as an empire; possibly beginning with Kirkpatrick Sale’s article in counterpunch in February 2005.
However, when an Ohioan other than myself writes a published letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch under the title “Empires are always dying from within” –well, that made me sit up and take notice.
What aroused Elizabeth Richter’s ire was Jonah Goldberg’s assertion that “empire” is a necessity if we are to achieve "globalism, military success, capitalism and liberty." She cited John Quincy Adams in an 1821 speech as expressing his opposition to what we now call “nation-building” in these terms: "We do not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." Instead, Ms. Richter noted, we are to create such a free and prosperous nation that the rest of the world will try to imitate us.
President Adams also told Congress that if we did try to destroy the monsters of our world that we would become a "dictatress" of the world, and this would damage our liberty.
Ms. Richter then observes with considerable irony the resemblance between the neoconservative philosophy and those of Leon Trotsky and Machiavelli, especially the beliefs that lying is necessary for the state to survive and that the ends justify the means if those in power are virtuous.
She then concludes, “All tyranny is based upon an insistence of those in power to create utopia on Earth. This position is directly opposed to the non-utopian Christian worldview of our Founders, who believed in a messy and widely shared division of power inherent in our Republic.”
Amen!
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