Tuesday, May 13, 2003
EMPIREWATCH
The debate on America as an empire is heating up again. In an article here, two Brookings scholars weigh in, calling for a United States contained by its allies in multilateral structures similar to those built during the Truman- Eisenhower years of the Cold War.
The United States is not an empire. What we have here is a debate over whether American values, particularly the conservative interpretation that favors free markets, individualism and limited government - is a good thing for the world. People who have a bias toward collectivism, statism, social democracy and fear change and modernity will line up to create measures to retard America's freedom of action because the further Bush can push the world order in favor of market rules, the less sustainable the collectivist-social democratic model is in practice both economically and politically.
¶ 9:25 AM
The debate on America as an empire is heating up again. In an article here, two Brookings scholars weigh in, calling for a United States contained by its allies in multilateral structures similar to those built during the Truman- Eisenhower years of the Cold War.
The United States is not an empire. What we have here is a debate over whether American values, particularly the conservative interpretation that favors free markets, individualism and limited government - is a good thing for the world. People who have a bias toward collectivism, statism, social democracy and fear change and modernity will line up to create measures to retard America's freedom of action because the further Bush can push the world order in favor of market rules, the less sustainable the collectivist-social democratic model is in practice both economically and politically.
¶ 9:25 AM
