Empire and Metaphor
More and more, I hear people whispering the word now in mainstream American political discourse, sometimes even saying it aloud: “Empire.” It’s still a shock for me to hear it, for it strikes me as discordant, horrible, wrong. Even during my brief time working in DC, when I got a whiff of how rarified the air is inside the beltway, it puzzled me. I still remember my surprise when I heard that Vaclav Havel, whose writing and political philosophy I greatly admire, was co-sponsor of a debate at the American Enterprise Institute entitled “American is now and should be an Empire.” I believe Paul Wolfowitz attended.
I think to most Americans, the E-word remains a taboo, however much it has penetrated the discussions of the political class. We honestly cannot fathom the existence of an entity within ourselves so contrary to our essence. Imagine: the President of the United States stands up in the Rose Garden and announces our intention invade country Y “to strengthen our military position and further expand our Empire.” All hell would break loose among the Washington press corp.
Still, perhaps I overstate the innocence of Americans in this regard. Maybe every nation always can find a way to rationalize anything. Perhaps the Brits really thought they were spreading civilization. Perhaps the Romans really thought the Pax Romana was in everyone’s interest. Perhaps, too, future civilizations will laugh at our conception of an “Accidental Empire.”
Ironically enough, the founders of the United States, and most especially Madison and Jefferson, openly discussed America’s imperial ambitions after her independence. The interior of the country seemed open for expansion, save for a few Native Americans who were powerless to stop it. Indeed, the central debate was not about whether American would gain an Empire, but whether in the process she would lose her revolutionary soul. The answer generally, tentatively, was yes, the historical record often shows that Empire corrupts democracy. And that answer should give us pause, as politicians ponder ways to expand United States hegemony.
Or more to the point, given America’s financial weakness and our difficulty maintaining our military: when our Empire declines, will we go like the Brits, who managed to maintain their democracy and stability during their loss, or like the Romans, who degenerated into a military dictatorship?
