American Empire 2
Evil Empire?
More and more today we hear that America has an empire, is an imperialistic nation, and therefore is increasingly evil. In my line of work I hear this all the time from liberal and neo-evangelical theologians. Empires are by definition evil. This is often linked up with the notion that violence is always evil…
To imply that America is an “empire” in some bad sense is a gob of spit in the face of people who have actually been in modern empires. When American troops liberated Europe in the Great War and in World War II, the G.I.s passed out cigarettes and chewing gum. Children and young ladies crowded around American tanks and jeeps.
Americans married European girls and brought them home. Of course, here and there an American G.I. did not behave rightly, but whenever, rarely, an American soldier rapes a girl he is court-martialled.
When the Russians (Soviets) “liberated” Eastern Europe, the soldiers were ordered to rape as many women as possible, and happily they complied. In Budapest 80,000 women were raped, and thousands of babies resulted. The systematic rape of women in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, eastern Germany etc. is well-remembered by these people. Moreover, large numbers of Estonian and other men were carted off to labour camps in Russia and never returned. When Russian troops appear in a city, people hide.
Blabbering on about an “evil American empire” does not sit well with Poles, Estonians, Georgians, Ukrainians, and others who love America and want to be linked up with America…
American academics know nothing about reality They could if they wanted to, but it’s so much easier to hate your homeland.
Of course, the United States had made mistakes. Bad ones… but these mistakes and evils are not imperialism. I myself was not in favour of either Gulf War. But these are not imperial wars. The United States has no desire to rule these countries, and will leave as soon as possible.
To call the domination of certains parts of the world’s economies by American businesses, to the extent that this is real, an “empire” is a perverse and stupid use of language. So much for the “American Empire.”
Excerpts from Evil Empire? by James B. Jordan, Biblical Horizons Newsletter No. 199. PO Box 1096 Niceville, Florida 32588-1096. There is much more to this essay and I recommend a subscription.
