The Decline of the American Empire

At least one other. Nice.

 

"The Myth of Trump’s ‘Fascism’: Leading Professor Explains Trump’s Populism, Nationalism"

In his essay, the author demonstrates just how whacked-out the elite navel gazers are, by illustrating the differences between fascism and Trump's political philosophy.

The author is a 90 year old Berkely professor. He brings up a point which is consistently raised on these forums, and which the left refuses to admit to:

"...many of those attracted by Trump have probably avoided much of the liberal indoctrination irresistible at university..."


https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/11/05/a-james-gregor-donald-trump-fascism-and-populism/

"Professor A. James Gregor is professor emeritus of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of thirty academic volumes and is a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy."

 

Which other one is that?

 

Who knows what an empire is.

 

It's a shame that opposing the "managed decline" of America, is considered radical.

 

Don't promote fantasy.

Obama lead by demonizing his opponents.

 

We have been in Afghanistan for 18 years. We spent Trillions in Iraq and are still spending untold billions. We have something like 800 bases all over the Globe. We have 19 aircraft carriers.

For a nation that has no colonies to protect - we sure as heck to alot of protecting - or at least we act as if we need to protect something.

Regardless of whether we are actually protecting - or pretending to protect - the cost is still there. We spend over 1 Trillion dollars per year "Total Military Spending" on the basis "Protecting" and actual fighting.

The cost of projecting power increases with time - this is what broke the bank of Rome and various other world economic empires.

This is not to say that there are not other factors - but, this is a big one and this is related to the other factors (padding the pockets of the international financiers that dictate the agenda of this nation both internally and externally).

 

When the war against the Taliban ends, which is why the US went to Afghanistan in the first place after 9/11, and the US continues to stay there then we can call Afghanistan a US colony.

 

Consider it a gift, from me to you;

 

An empire rules over other nations and countries they have defeated in war. They plant their flag and setup their government to rule over the conquered.

 

Example please.

 

Were you asleep?

Anyone who opposed him was RACIST!

His allies did the demonizing for him.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5595360

 

So he didn't demonize anyone. Gotcha.

 

Don't be dishonest.

 

You are the one who admitted that Obama didn't demonize anyone. You claim his supporters did instead. Shall we compare supporters? Trump counts some of the most despicable racists as his supporters. Some even shoot up schools and send out mail bombs.

 

I could make the argument that the rate of growth under Trump is pretty much linear continuation of that under Obama's second term and that the deregulation and tax cuts are the biggest transfer of wealth from middle and lower classes to the very wealthy and corporations in history but I am sure you would disagree. The stock market is no longer a real indicator of economic growth as corporations are using it as a way to inflate their own value in stock buy-backs rather that to raise funds for plants and equipment - in general.
Deregulation of environmental standards such as the gutting of the EPA and other agencies is going to be disastrous in the long run.

So you have seen your business prosper under the Trump era?

Nice sentiment. Trump's rhetoric is not only offensive, it is dangerous. He is using immigrants as scapegoats to generate fear and hatred the same way dangerous demagogues did in the past with tragic results. He is undermining democratic institutions like the free press and the DOJ. He lies the way most people breath and he is selling out the nations wealth to the most reactionary and kleptocratic forces in the nation.

But I agree it would be nice if we could calm down and have a reasonable discussion and find points of agreement.

Thanks for answering my question thoughtfully, btw.

 

So the first sentence you declare it all wrong without going into any detail at all other than too multicultural. In fact there were many reasons for the fall including economic and social decline though you are correct that the roman army became larger a force of paid foreign mercenaries which, like American military expenditures took a lot of the nations wealth to support.

https://www.ancient.eu/article/835/fall-of-the-western-roman-empire/

Then in the third sentence you see the same thing happening with the American military and agree with the premise you had just said was all wrong.

No need to wonder if you mean grossly bloated military expenditures. It is happening!

 

The ad hominem aside, which rolls off my back, btw, it would be more correct to say that I would like to see America as the worlds dominant economy and military power lose the exceptionalism and essential nation crap that dominates it's political structure and return to being a rational partner to other nations in a mutli-polar world where negotiation and diplomacy are the norm rather than threats and insults.

It is not that I want to see it fall as much as I can see the fall coming just by watching you stagger around the world creating disasters like an impotent school bully threatening everyone in the playground to hide your insecurity and disfunction.

 

Lol, hope you can afford healthcare or kids education on that ditch-digger salary. Used to be union job didn't it? Still is? I suppose a discussion of the destruction of the labour movement in your country should follow but perhaps for another thread............

 

Everyone should be paid the market value for their labor.

Unions are a relic.

 

I was not aiming the remark at you because I only think in terms of my fellow Americans

so it was my opinion to them rather than an insult designed to inflame foreigners who may be lurking on the forum

 

Got a few paragraphs in then realized I was reading a Breitbart hit piece re-writing of history trying to erase or justify what happened to aboriginal Americans or the history of slavery. The author may have credentials, which is fine - people are entitled to their opinions. I happen to disagree with his.

Just as an aside there is a U of T professor who tries to tie all liberalism as akin to mental illness manifested by PC or whatever. Largely he is laughably misguided and most students protest and avoid his lectures.

Let's examine further.

What are some of the principle traits of fascist movements?

"Even the reader who finds much to admire in Stanley’s book may still wonder why he employs the term “fascist” so freely. In his epilogue, Stanley offers an answer. Citing a 2017 study in the journal Cognition, he observes that “judgments of normality are affected both by what people think is statistically normal and what they think is ideally normal.” Thus, if American politicians routinely associate Latino immigrants with murder and rape, Americans may grow less outraged by such accusations simply because they occur so often. Stanley supports this scholarly insight with a personal one, from his grandmother, a German Jew who wrote about the way Jews in Berlin psychologically accommodated themselves to Hitler’s rule as late as 1937: “We were still able to leave the country; we could still live in our homes; we could still worship in our temples; we were in a Ghetto, but the majority of our people were still alive.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/books/review/jason-stanley-how-fascism-works.html

14 traits of fascism by Dr. Lawrence Britt:

Powerful obsession with nationalism - Trump America first to a tee.

Disdain for Human rights - Pulling out of international treaties and cutting funding to refugees and international aid

Identifying scapegoats as a unifying cause - need I say more?

Supremacy of the Military - What is the military budget again?

Controlled mass media - enemy of the people - fake news?

Obsession with national security - using this argument to threaten and impose economic warfare on friends and foe alike.

Religion and government intertwined - rise of the evangelicals in political process.

Corporate power protected - need I say more????

Labour suppressed

Disdain for intellectualism or the arts

.......you get the drift. Here are the rest if you are interested:

https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/fr/blog/ironboltbruce/9996

 

Are you sure? The USA had some of the bloodiest labour battles in the world back at the turn of the 20th century in order to fight for some of the gains in human capital and worker standards you take for granted today. The labour movement was destroyed by a very deliberate extinction.

You also had functioning socialist and communist parties which forced many of the reforms that Roosevelt and Wallace instituted to save capitalism during the New Deal era that allowed you to achieve the economic power you enjoyed after the war.

 

I have had many dealings with China and every time I and many others ordered merchandise from trade shows we were actually dealing indirectly with the Chinese government. They reward their military officers with companies doing business overseas and they share in the profits with the military complex. I would call that bribery or guaranteeing safety. As consumers you and others are supporting this Chinese corruption.

 

You don't have to conquer land and nations to be an empire although America does this the world over from Cuba to Hawaii to the 800 foreign military bases it keeps throughout the world.

A corporate/industrial/intelligence/military empire is still an empire.