Imperialism in the USA

During the Spanish-American War the term imperialism was coined when the idea of an American Empire became popular. Since then, Marxist theorists have pushed the idea of imperialism stemming from capitalism and modern conservative and liberal theorists cite the idea when opposing aggressive U.S. policies.

The American government has a tendency to be big brother to those people they see as oppressed; they fight the battle for them, then take over and tell them what to do while sticking around to make sure their directions are followed to a T. For example, the United States worked together with Emilio Aguinaldo to declare the Philippines independent from Spain, then the U.S. joined forces with Spain and received the territory from them as a result of the Treaty of Paris. The U.S. government decided that Filipinos were ready for independence "Only through American occupation"(Dr.Schurman) and made the Philippines a commonwealth, that is not independent or free! Then the U.S. decided to establish a government very similar to the United States government for them - big brother took advantage of the trust he gained by "helping" at first and used it to become the new bully - this led to the Philippine-American War. To sum the story up, the Philippines did not start self-government until 1934 and their independence was not recognized until 1946, and the U.S. still has military bases there; no sibling defies the big brother who resides in the next bed without consequence.

Perhaps a better example of the current political American Empire would be the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States in the same Treaty of Paris as they did the Philippines, and the US decided the people there also couldn't control themselves and set up a system of military rule with officials appointed by the President of the United States. Eventually, Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship and got to be drafted into US wars; then in 1947 they got the right to vote for their own governor,but not in US presidential elections, and their representative in the US Congress is a non-voting member - big brother deciding to let little brother make suggestions as to how he bullies, but getting no real say. How is it fair to let them be drafted, but not vote into office the people who have the power to initiate the draft?

All of this "helping" other peoples by telling them what to do isn't working out so well for the United States. The further we expand our reach the more we are stretched creating less ability to control what happens to our nation. The great Roman Empire had the same problem, conquered too much with too little. What goes up must come down, and all empires must fall. It's time we try to work together with other nations as equals and not as the bossy big brother who takes his way whether anyone else agrees or not or we too shall see the collapse of our government.