Empire

The United States, at least, the political elite of the past sixty or so years, sees itself as an empire. This is unfortunate. Empires are not good for those conquered or controlled by them, and ultimately, they aren't good for those in the imperial centre. We in the US are seeing this day by day. Simply, the US, or any other country, cannot afford to be an empire. We have a crumbling infrastructure and an increasingly unsound economy. Moreover, unemployment would be much higher but for the huge number of men and women under arms or under lock and key.

And, being an empire is immoral. Imposing will on others is never justified. This is a country with friendly neighbours on our borders, and great oceans between us and the rest of the world. We have no defensive need for such a huge military. It is time to start saying, "bring the troops home -- from everywhere". This is not isolationism. This is neighbourliness.