The end of the American Empire...would that be a bad thing for the average American?

[raccoon]

It would be a good thing IF the US stopped spending so much on the military and the money went instead to items which benefit the people, social programs and maintaining roads, bridges, dams, etc.

There's got to be a downside. If a successor empire emerged, they might--probably would--do some thing that hurt the average Americans. Such as jack up the price of oil into the stratosphere. Undoubtedly there are others.

Your thoughts?

[Az]

1. The constant drive to be number 1 is a drain on our society

Just be. Don't worry about whether we are kicking everyone else's behinds in. Our society has lost much of its compassion and empathy I suspect due to this notion that we have to be number 1.

[Atman]

2. It would be disasterous for the foam finger industry

We need to be able to thump our chests and mindlessly chant "We are #1!" all the time. Sure, football is cool, but what fun is it cheering on the #1 team in the #2 (or 3, or 4, 7, or 10) country?

.

[The2ndWheel]

3. The only reason we have so much

is because we have been an expanding empire since day 1, and continue to keep the variables basically in our favor with our military.

Nothing comes for free in this world. The only reason Europe is paradise with all their social programs is because they don't need to protect interests outside of their countries, because the US military does that, since we all share the same interests. I have no doubt that the old imperial feeling from European states would come back if we weren't the global police force keeping things relatively stable.

We live in a zero-sum world. Whatever we or anyone else does, causes something else to happen somewhere else. It's like a scale. You put more here, less goes there. Everyone can't have everything. Everyone can't live a life of luxury. It's just not possible. Even if every American could, that means more people somewhere else won't.

But that's the price you pay. The sad part is that you can't catch up, and we're all just trying to. We keep "solving" problems, only to see new and more complex problems pop up. Not to mention that there seems to be no end to progress, meaning we don't know what we're progressing to. What's the end-game? Is it just endless progress? If there is no end to it, then we're all just chasing a dream. If there is an end, as soon as we stop, we'll have more problems, which will result in the need for more solutions. Where are we going?

So yes, the end of the American empire would be a bad thing for the average Joe. But the continuation of it isn't much better, because there seems to be no goal. Which is the problem of empire.

[Double T]

4. Great Empires have come and gone throughout history; the American Empire??........

will be NO DIFFERENT. America has reached its apex and is NOW on the decline, thanks to the leaches on wall street. A successor class of obscenely filthy rich elite is attempting to take over ALL COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY throughout the world while lowering the standards and the lifestyles of the working class from former industrialized nations. The globalization process involves a total takeover of BOTH the political and economic power throughout the world. The average American, as well as others, has already been or will seriously be hurt by this attempted takeover. Global revolution is inevitable.

[raccoon]

5. IMO, the apex was in the '50's and '60's, and things have been

going downhill since. For the average American, that is.

[Double T]

6. January 20th 1981, when ronald reagan took office, was the beginning.......

of the end for the middle class in America. The 1987 movie 'wall street' was a small example of what was to come.

[raccoon]

7. Was that the movie about Gordon Gecko? nt

[Double T]

8. Mr. "greed is good" himself..................

the epitome of a wall street lamprey; totally consumed by greed and zero conscience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Gekko

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. Transitioning from empire to post-empire would hurt the average joe.

It will take a couple of decades for the hoi-polloi to realize that we're no longer the top dog and to readjust our thinking (and governing) to the new reality.

Perhaps those decades have already begun.

[DavidDvorkin]

10. The average Briton is a lot better off now

Than when Britain and its empire dominated the world.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. The fall of an empire is always a good thing

A nation cannot be at once a democracy and an empire. Empires by definition are not free states. They are hierarchical systems, although at first the hierarchy is such that all citizens of the mother country are exalted over the natives of the colonies. Nevertheless, the empire must suppress ideas of liberty and equality in order to maintain itself, first in the colonies among rebellious natives and then at home against dissidents revolted by the brutality of the suppression of the colonies and the expense of doing so. Sooner or later, just as civil liberties never existed for the natives of the colonies, they are taken way from the citizens of the mother country by the emperor.

Lincoln said during a debate with Douglas, "As I would be no man's slave, neither would I be his master." A twenty-first century update to Lincoln's sentiment might be As I would be no emperor's subject, neither would I be the emperor.

Democracy is much more than simply having the right to vote for the elitist stooge of one's choice, after those with power have selected the candidates and decided which ones will have their permission to broadcast campaign messages. It is a state where citizenship is universal, equal and inalienable, where citizens are encouraged to speak out on civic affairs. The neoconservative vision of an American Empire leading a century of a Pax Americana has been accompanied by war, torture, domestic spying and the Patriot and Military Commissions Acts, the latter which included a suspension of the right of Habeas Corpus that goes well beyond what the imperial apologists have stated.

I am a democrat. I will not be an emperor. I will have no emperor ruling over me.