There is a continuous tension between the United States of America, the most successful and most populous of the settler states planted by European imperialists around the world, and America's central position within the current world empire. Because the concept of "empire" has become essentially a negative epithet or an abstract historical term, understood only in relation to the more famous examples of empire creation in history. Empire, however, isn't something that the Romans invented, or that died with the British, or that is plotted by some dastardly neo-cons in the Pentagon basement. Empire is one of the most logical and inevitable of historical processes, it exists in all time periods, because it makes sense for a great many people at any given time.
Simply put, the drive for empire is the drive for unity, standardization, ease of communication and trade, the elimination of barriers between peoples, and the reduction of petty strife. It is the same urge that causes communities to evolve police forces and common systems of exchange and dispute resolution, but writ large, bringing together as much space and population as can be held together given the period's constraints in communication, military technology and economic conditions. As soon as civilization arose among the great rivers of the temperate zone, and more and more communities began living in a similar wary, producing goods that had value to their neighbors and possessed of a written language and rudimentary legal and financial structures, the drive for agglomeration began, with more and more regions uniting under the most warlike tribe in the neighborhood, giving rise to a succession of empires the achievements of which can still be seen on the world map today, from China to Europe. Sooner or later, a pattern of unification, centralization and standardization sweeps over any even mildly homogenous zone, because the benefits of such development become manifest to a great proportion of its inhabitants.
It is essential to understand the dynamics of Empire to realize that Empire is at its heart not a coercive force, that Empires do not arise by conquest alone, they arise when the governed consent to a large extent to the new structure because of the benefits it brings them. The Roman Empire did not come into being with the conquest of the Greeks and the Carthaginians, it became an Empire when Roman citizenship and its benefits was extended to 75 million people around the Mediterranean world.
The center of the empire might shift with the passage of time and new developments, as it did in China, starting in the southeast and migrating until it came to rest in Beijing, a place far north of the original civilized imperial zone, pulled there because the northern barbarians of the steppe joined the empire and eventually became the driving military force behind it. It similarly traveled from the Middle East and Egypt northward, pulled first by the advantage to communication and travel offered by the Mediterranean basin, and then by the strength of the northern barbarians, first to Greece, Carthage and Rome, then toward the Germanic tribes, settling on the western edge and then following the great colonization effort of the Europeans and ending up in the most successful and militarily capable European settler state, the United States of America. Just as the power of the Phoenicians, never able to fully exert their power because of the divisions and limitations of their cramped homeland in the Eastern Mediterranean, came to its highest flowering and greatest height of imperial unification in Carthage on the northwestern coast of Africa, so too the power of the Europeans, drained in the bloody wars for supremacy of that continent, came to rest in America where it could grow without the constraints of old borders and rivalries. From this new secure center, the empire was able to unite the old mother countries with their former colonies in a protective cocoon, defended by the ferocious and numerous soldiers bred on the North American continent and watered by the stream of capital accumulated during centuries of imperial agglomeration.
While in retrospect the settling of an imperial center might seem like a foregone and logical conclusion, dependent largely on a supply of willing soldiers and an advantageous geographic position, to the inhabitants of the land where the Empire comes to be centered, and even more so to the peripheral population who receive few of the benefits of Empire and often bear the brunt of its forcefully harmonizing actions, the whole development might be highly unwelcome, or at least baffling and unsettling.
While serving as the center of the Empire bestows numerous significant benefits, such as the constant inflow of capital, brought in by the victorious army or sent in voluntarily by far flung elites eager to store their wealth in the most stable and protected location, under the protection of the Imperial Guard, and the elite of the region itself becomes elevated to lofty heights of wealth and power, the non-elite population is required to serve in the endless military campaigns necessary to maintain and expand the empire, and to shoulder other burdens incumbent on the entity who is tasked with maintaining control and stability in a zone much greater than that of its immediate borders
In modern America, the tension of empire and nation is felt sharply, even if most people cannot pinpoint what is at the source. Sending aid abroad, or starting yet another imperial operation, strikes much of the population, which will not see the benefits and which is not given any reason why except some largely transparent propaganda justification (aggressive self defense, humanitarian intervention, punitive expedition, economic necessity, etc.) as not being worth it. Most Americans hold a nostalgic desire for isolationism and complaint about these operations and the other exactions placed upon the nation by the needs of the empire, but the blame is usually channeled to some greedy minority, or some other aberrant cause, without understanding that this is part of a very cohesive and long standing pattern.
The centering of the Empire among the nation also leads to the creation of a sort of state within a state, with Imperial cities springing up in strategic locations around the country, places which bear more similarity with other imperial centers around the world than to the other cities of the nation. Many people reading this article right now in the Imperial Cities of the US such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle or Washington, have more in common with other residents of Imperial Cities around the world such as Shanghai, Moscow, Berlin, London, etc., the technologically savvy and capital hungry professionals from New York to China tired together by culture and business connection, then they are to the rural residents of their respective hinterlands. The complaints of the so called American heartland, or the Red States, against the decadent and alien culture of the "Left Coast" or the big liberal urban centers, are driven exactly by this unrealized tension between empire and nation, and will not be resolved until this tension is brought into the open.
Instead of complaining or cheering about particular manifestations of empire , from the power bestowed on the Federal Reserve by virtue of its being the Imperial clearing house, or marveling at the enormous amounts of wealth that are on display in America's imperial cities, while contrasting it with the blight of those cities which do not receive the inflow of imperial bounty, or bemoaning the never-ending wars or the seemingly inexplicable flow of moneys toward goals that in now way serve the American national interest, we must have a frank discussion of what it means to be the imperial center, the benefits and the costs of it, and whether it is worth it.
And the answer should not be a knee jerk rejection of Empire based on the drilled in aversion to imperialism that is many people's only reaction to this topic. It's not as easy as Star Wars made it out to be. The benefits are many and manifest everywhere we look. The world today is united by a common language of culture and commerce, a common communication infrastructure, interlinked to an extent unimaginable without the stability and cohesion provided by a strong imperial unifying power. The flow of goods and information around the world is truly astounding. We can buy a ticket almost anywhere in the world and be assured of a basic quality of hotel, service, food, and the security of our person and property.
The imperial culture, most easily recognized in its simpler manifestation as "pop culture," pervades and unifies the world. From Britney Spears to the Windows operating system to Internet pornography, people are enjoying he same products around the world without regard to their particular geographic location or their nation's particular structure or history. Local cultures are dying off by the hundreds, as each year dozens of languages are lost to the universal study of English. The pressure of the torrent of bubble gum, dreamed up in Los Angeles or New York, manufactured in China, and serviced from India is very powerful, the connection of so many talented and motivated people leads to an incredible pace of innovation and development, even as it sounds the death knell for many less aggressive cultural models.
However, the relentlessly pushing aggressive center of Empire, which seeks to unite the world under a harmonious network breeds much resentment. Regionalism, patriotism, separatism and the irruptions of those who attach no value to the Imperial achievements and see all the gifts as a corrosive and weakening witch's brew, have always accompanied imperialism, and every imperial rise is followed by its own dark age or reaction, when the old unity is torn asunder to make room for the birth of new states. and civilization. No matter how much innovating and creative energy an imperial zone can bring together and allow to blossom, eventually the particular historic baggage of any empire causes it to calcify and it begins to fail to adapt and thrive in changing eras until it collapses. The outward pressure of the Empire creates opposition to itself, and its attempts to crush that opposition merely lead to a never-ending process of swatting at flies and festering sores that await only the weakening of the gargantuan organism to spread through it.
Even at its peak, the Imperial mantle is a heavy one to bear. Every time American or NATO soldiers come back in body bags from far flung theaters around the world, dying an unlikely death that he or she seemingly sought out, abandoning the complete safety of their metropolitan homeland for the hazards, excitement and rewards of service on the periphery, and every time another massacre or murderous occupation is perpetrated in the name of the Empire, we are reminded of the cost of Empire. Being the central pillar places the burden of forcefully maintaining the edifice against all challenges internal and external, and it essentially dictates the transformation of the central nation into a military camp and a high proportion of its citizens into solders/world police, well paid, professional forces, but nevertheless, people of force. And these are only the most visible costs, there are also the deformative effects that being a part of an Empire has on a particular formerly standalone culture.
Even the Americans, settled and given form by the world empire of its day, and inheriting the scepter within a historically very short time after inception, born to the purple as it were, can feel the assault and substitution of Imperial culture for any authentic American culture. People around the world complain when the McDonald's and the other corporate chains come to blot out their landscape with kitschy brightly anti-aesthetic architecture, but it is far worse in the land of McDonalds's itself, where there is almost nothing left except strip malls, rest areas and identical tract housing. Other cultures might fall back on their ancient tradition, but there is little left of culture in the US except what's on TV. This is the epicenter, there is nowhere to turn there, we are in the belly of the beast. Many complain about this, without knowing what the source of their complaint is. Most of the so called "culture war" is a vain struggle of the cultural traditionalists of the American nation with the much looser mores of the Empire which now calls the US its home and calls the shots. Without understanding how deeply rooted this conflict and what its drivers are, many view the assault of pop culture and disposable consumerism as some sort of hopefully temporary aberrations or nearly divine plague, when in reality these are the pillars of the edifice which the US is primarily tasked with maintaining and spreading.
But again one must not be hasty in facile snobbish condemnation. Imperial culture, intended for mass consumption across many cultures and populations, must perforce be primitive, the lowest common denominator to be understood by all. The Greeks offered sporting events, the Romans offered lavish violent entertainments and a simple syncretic religion that could be understood and embraced by a Berber tribesman, a German warrior, a roman aristocrat or an Alexandrian intellectual. The US offers pop culture and fast technological progress geared toward material well being, and a fairly hands off method of governance and war making. If your region cooperates even minimally, no direct occupation may be necessary, and if one is necessary, then attempts will be made to minimize civilian casualties and damage to the infrastructure. In fact, the Empire will attempt to make improvements in infrastructure and governance as part of its occupation and pacification efforts.
This bears repeating. It is essential to understand the dynamics of Empire to realize that Empire is at its heart not a coercive force, that Empires do not arise by conquest alone, they arise when the governed consent to a large extent to the new structure because of the benefits it brings them. The Roman Empire did not come into being with the conquest of the Greeks and the Carthaginians, it became an Empire when Roman citizenship and its benefits was extended to 75 million people around the Mediterranean world.
Nor can one reject the Empire for the simple reason that all Empires eventually fall. All states, colures, civilization eventually fall, and in fact, Empires tend to live on much longer than standalone entities. Look at Rome, its religious and civil service apparatus, s well as its aesthetic values still persist in only slightly modify forms around the world.
For Americans, the Empire offers a much higher level of wealth than would otherwise be achievable if the US war merely one of many competing states of European lineage. The allure of the Imperial power is self evident, and I know of no American, left right or center, who does not take a certain relish from the might of the American military and the fact that the US President can still set world policy or open a new battle front during a quick speech.
Another thing to consider when recommending the rejection of Empire from within the Unlisted States is the question, can any authentic non-Imperial culture be salvaged if the Empire is disentangled from the nation? Is here any America left other than the Fast Food/New Gadget police state that currently exists, or can one be evolved in conditions of economic and military decline that would inevitably set in if the imperial center was relocated?
Another important question is, can the situation be reformed without he renunciation of Empire, but rather from within? Can the Empire be made less militaristic, for example, or more culturally profound, or more tolerant of indigenous ways of life? Does every conflict have to be resolved by American firepower, and does every street in every town around the world have to have a McDonald's on it, does every stereo in every car in the world have to be blaring some version of a Madonna song infinitely plagiarized and retouched to fit the needs of every demographic? Does every kid around the world have to enjoy the Disney classics? Can another model be evolved that doesn't push such total uniformity, or can the uniform product be improved, enriched somehow to give people a bit more nourishment and leave them less drained inside?
These are the questions we need to be asking, instead of complaining that one American President or another has just launched another peacemaking operation halfway around the world or whether we need to give Egypt or Israel or Pakistan a particular shipment of fighter planes.