I think we are using different definitions of empire, although I suspect we would both agree that empires are, by definition, bad things and wouldn't want to live in one - to those who think they are good things the question should be asked 'Would you like to live in someone else's?'.
Democracy is not inimical to empire - for most of its lifetime the British Empire was a functioning democracy. The USA is a functioning democracy but it is behaving like an imperium (and the Monroe Doctrine goes way, way back)
When the shared identity is deliberately diminished - as appears to be the case in your country at present - the question remains, 'Cui bono?' I return to my remark about aristocracy.
Change, however, is constant. Francis Fukuyama was utterly wrong.
We are living in interesting times - but we are living, and able to learn our lessons, if we are willing. If we aren't, there is only one conclusion. That's the lesson of evolution.
Picture a raised glass. Here's to today, and all the promise it holds, and to tomorrow, which holds still more.
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Date: 2007-03-11 09:27 am (UTC)Democracy is not inimical to empire - for most of its lifetime the British Empire was a functioning democracy. The USA is a functioning democracy but it is behaving like an imperium (and the Monroe Doctrine goes way, way back)
When the shared identity is deliberately diminished - as appears to be the case in your country at present - the question remains, 'Cui bono?' I return to my remark about aristocracy.
Change, however, is constant. Francis Fukuyama was utterly wrong.
We are living in interesting times - but we are living, and able to learn our lessons, if we are willing. If we aren't, there is only one conclusion. That's the lesson of evolution.
Picture a raised glass. Here's to today, and all the promise it holds, and to tomorrow, which holds still more.
MT