Fwd: Failure of Empire

---------- Forwarded message
From: John Hemington

As we glide into the Christmas season in anticipation of an entirely new experience in the coming year, it is an appropriate time to examine the folly of empire exemplified by efforts of the United States to enforce its domination on the rest of the world for the past sixty-six years or so.  We, the American people, have lived in a delusional bubble when viewing the activities of the governments we elect.  By this I mean that we consistently fail to see the activities of our government in the same light as the rest of the world.  We blindly believe the propaganda spewed forth by the organs of government, the defense department, the intelligence agencies and the media justifying and extoling our actions in the world. 

Now we are entering into a whole new paradigm of "leadership" with the election of Donald J. Trump as the next leader of the misnomered "free world".  It is no longer satisfactory to cling to the old myths of American exceptionalism as the "essential" nation guiding the world to freedom and democracy.  We must come to recognize that the United States is, in fact, the "evil empire" generating death, destruction and devastation wherever it positions itself in the greater sphere of operations.  The Trump team is certain to extend and expand the nationalist furor in an ongoing attempt to subject the rest of the world to our demands and decisions no matter what the consequences for humanity – and they may well be dire.

Unfortunately, until the American people come to realize the devastation and destruction being done in their name and rise up to demand that enough is enough, nothing will be done to staunch the horror of our actions.  It now appears that there are no limits beyond which the Trump administration will not go in an effort to turn the nation and the world over to a neoliberal/neoconservative clique of despotic warriors intent upon total domination of the planet.  What we are about to witness is insanity on a mass scale.  Thanks to the United States effort to destabilize the Middle East the world has become more chaotic than at any time prior to the First World War.  The non-state terrorism is matched tit-for-tat by officially sanctioned state terrorism with aerial drones, sanctioned torture and unprecedented attacks on sovereign nations the rule of the day.  This will not end well.  And with an incoming president who seems to be unable to think beyond the latest Twitter insult cannot end well.

I would like nothing more than to be wishing everyone a Merry Christmas at this time of year, but it is difficult to call up a jovial spirit while looking at what will be facing us in the New Year.  My sincerest wish is that we all survive the next four years and somehow manage to resurrect both the spirit and the reality of idea of the United States as a beacon of hope and justice for the world.  Not an empire, but an example of how things can and should work.  But it will take all of us working together in community for this to become a reality.  We can no longer divide ourselves on artificial issues and maintain hope.  If there is to be hope it must come with understanding and cooperation.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and (to the extent possible) a happy new year.

Do read the attached article.

John

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