Imperial Liquidation
In her book “ The Origins of Totolitarianism”, political philosopher Hannah Arendt offered the following summary of British imperialism:
"On the whole it was a failure because of the dichotomy between the nation-state's legal principles and the methods needed to oppress other people permanently. This failure was neither necessary nor due to ignorance or incompetence. British imperialists knew very well that 'administrative massacres' could keep India in bondage, but they also knew that public opinion at home would not stand for such measures. Imperialism could have been a success if the nation-state had been willing to pay the price, to commit suicide and transform itself into a tyranny. It is one of the glories of Europe, and especially of Great Britain, that she preferred to liquidate the empire."
Chalmers Johnson the author of “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic” insists that we must begin a process of “Imperial Liquidation.”
According to the Pentagon's own 2005 inventory, we maintain a network of 737 American military bases around the world. Not including Iraq and Afghanistan, we station over half a million US troops, spies, contractors and dependents on military bases located in more than 130 countries.
Imperialism and militarism have begun to endanger both the financial and social well-being of America. We need a popular movement to subject a Constitutional government to the discipline of checks and balances. Replacing one political party for the other and implementing protectionist economic policies aimed at rescuing what's left of our manufacturing economy will not work, because these solutions fail to address the root cause of our national decline.
Chalmers Johnson believes that the solution to this crisis is for the American people to make the decision to dismantle our imperialistic empire, which has required a huge military establishment. The task is comparable to that undertaken by the British government after World War II, which liquidated the British Empire. By doing so, Britain avoided becoming a domestic tyranny and losing its democracy, as would have been required if it had continued to try to dominate much of the world by force.
A decision to mount a campaign of imperial liquidation may already be too late, given the vast and deeply entrenched interests of the military-industrial complex. To succeed, such an endeavor will require a revolutionary mobilization of the people comparable to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
In the words of Noam Chomsky, a revered critic of American imperialism: "Where spending is rising, as in military supplemental bills to conduct the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it would sharply decline. Where spending is steady or declining (health, education, job training, the promotion of energy conservation and renewable energy sources, veterans benefits, funding for the UN and UN peacekeeping operations, and so on), it would sharply increase. Bush's tax cuts for people with incomes over $200,000 a year would be immediately rescinded."
"On the whole it was a failure because of the dichotomy between the nation-state's legal principles and the methods needed to oppress other people permanently. This failure was neither necessary nor due to ignorance or incompetence. British imperialists knew very well that 'administrative massacres' could keep India in bondage, but they also knew that public opinion at home would not stand for such measures. Imperialism could have been a success if the nation-state had been willing to pay the price, to commit suicide and transform itself into a tyranny. It is one of the glories of Europe, and especially of Great Britain, that she preferred to liquidate the empire."
Chalmers Johnson the author of “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic” insists that we must begin a process of “Imperial Liquidation.”
According to the Pentagon's own 2005 inventory, we maintain a network of 737 American military bases around the world. Not including Iraq and Afghanistan, we station over half a million US troops, spies, contractors and dependents on military bases located in more than 130 countries.
Imperialism and militarism have begun to endanger both the financial and social well-being of America. We need a popular movement to subject a Constitutional government to the discipline of checks and balances. Replacing one political party for the other and implementing protectionist economic policies aimed at rescuing what's left of our manufacturing economy will not work, because these solutions fail to address the root cause of our national decline.
Chalmers Johnson believes that the solution to this crisis is for the American people to make the decision to dismantle our imperialistic empire, which has required a huge military establishment. The task is comparable to that undertaken by the British government after World War II, which liquidated the British Empire. By doing so, Britain avoided becoming a domestic tyranny and losing its democracy, as would have been required if it had continued to try to dominate much of the world by force.
A decision to mount a campaign of imperial liquidation may already be too late, given the vast and deeply entrenched interests of the military-industrial complex. To succeed, such an endeavor will require a revolutionary mobilization of the people comparable to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
In the words of Noam Chomsky, a revered critic of American imperialism: "Where spending is rising, as in military supplemental bills to conduct the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it would sharply decline. Where spending is steady or declining (health, education, job training, the promotion of energy conservation and renewable energy sources, veterans benefits, funding for the UN and UN peacekeeping operations, and so on), it would sharply increase. Bush's tax cuts for people with incomes over $200,000 a year would be immediately rescinded."
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