Blog: What a Lousy Way to Run an Empire

Statement

If America plans to continue on its imperial path, it needs to put someone in charge who actually knows how to run an empire.
The whole point of invading foreign lands, overthrowing governments, killing civilians and soldiers and installing our own political philosophies and moral sensibilities on the defeated populi is to then suck the wealth from those nations and spread it around back home. Think of the Spaniards and Incas, the Japanese in World War II or Attila when he was doing his "scourge of God" thing across Europe.
America today, however, is bass-ackwards. Yes, we invade and overthrow governments and kill people and so on, but then we pump money into the conquered countries. The wealth transfer is from the American taxpayers to the people we just whupped, as if we're trying to buy their affection.
Iraq's oil spigots should be turned wide open, to the benefit of the U.S. (I know, we have private oil companies, not a government one, but at the very least we should be using Iraqi crude to fill our Strategic Petroleum Reserves to overflowing.) And that trillion dollars worth of Afghani minerals ought to be used to reimburse us for what we've spent propping up that corrupt regime.
That's the way to do to be a real empire, my friends.

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