Imperial Democracy

Hey! Step right up. Want some democracy? We got a great new brand right here on the shelf ready to go. Seal-wrapped straight from the factory. And we’ll get it to you through the barrel of a gun. Shipping and handling are on us. U.S. imperialism, like its predecessors, is based on the moral right to rule. In a newly packaged version of manifest destiny and the white man’s burden, America is delivering democracy to the benighted and bedraggled masses. The empire is rooted in the near-theological conviction that American values, whatever they might be, are good for the world. In fact, the Bush administration has declared, with a hubris that would make Roman emperors blush, that its vision for the rest of the planet is the only sustainable model. Emanating from Washington is a series of diktats telling other countries: Follow orders or else.