Government liens, government lies and the end of the empire

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"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

-- Abraham Lincoln




Lawrence here with a hypothetical scenario, loosely based in history.


The rich and the powerful conspire, and the government lies. The rich, the powerful and governments have does these things for decades, for centuries, for millennia. But now some of those lies seem worse than ever or at least in recent times, since our country seems more strained in terms of finances, education, manufacturing, the best and the brightest. Our reputation in world affairs is tarnished and vulnerable.

Some of these increasing vulnerabilities, many based on those in power conspiring to lie or limit the safeguards of our own democracy, may even make our country more vulnerable to a federal/national/international breakdown or crash.

Every empire thus far has ended. Perhaps every empire ends, and maybe this is how it will happen to the United States: Our own hubris and mistakes will make us more and more vulnerable to the competition and those whose loans keep us afloat. We will leverage ourselves and militarize ourselves into irreversible debt. Our foreign infiltrations will backfire. Some big loans will be called, and the European Union, the U.N., Japan and China will censure us and levy fines on broken and ignored treaties and trade deals.

The U.S. will get slapped down. It will be humbled somehow, and maybe that is what it will take to end this empire - the same as every other. History is right there to suggest this is how it will go.

But maybe, with America's big shoulders slumped - if not on its knees - humbled before the collective powers of wiser, more progressive, more cooperative (more "multi-lateral") nations, maybe, just maybe, the world would be a BETTER place.

Empires have had their days and maybe even done some good for the world - shown us what an empire can do and what it is likely to do - but I don't think many of us would say the world would be a better place if any empire had been able to endure much longer than it did or become "permanent." An empire is an aggressive and then institutionalized phase a powerful and rich nation goes through, but who wants one to last forever? Better to share the riches and the rights, the access to human progress, the ability to prevail as a species and as a planet teaming with life yet bound by limits.

Much of the world has already learned the lessons of America and taken those lessons to more modern means of dealing with this "global" world. The future of democracy doesn't depend on the United States, it depends on enlightened citizens around the world. We have probably taught the world our greatest lessons already, and our constitution will be a model for a long time to come.

But the current imperialism and runamok capitalism of this nation will NOT BE a model for a long time to come. The current biggest lesson the world is learning from us now is the price everyone is paying for our political (and hypocritical) audacity, our spoiled entitlements, our military might, our weapons buildup and dependency, our oil addiction, our consumption, our "holier than thou" arrogance, and our waste.

If the other powerful and influential countries in the world are learning these things faster than we are - and keeping these lessons in mind - then the end of our empire might indeed be a good thing.

We would still be a world player, still a leader of sorts, still the America Woody Guthrie was proud of, still innovative, still striving, still ripe with hope. But we would function better within the bounds of cooperation and the limits of our political and natural resources. Billions might learn better ways to do what is needed - to tread more lightly and not carry such big sticks. We as a nation and as a participant in the world might even mature a good bit, beyond this adolescent phase, and deal with the world less as spoiled teenagers and more as considerate, respectful, enlightened and compassionate adults.

We will give up our empire or lose it. We will cease to be an empire and, for it, for that gift and for the world, we will be a better nation.




It's high time we became the home of the brave: With respect to justice, cooperation and peace, here's to the end of the empire.



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