… A primary reason for opposing the acquisition of abusive powers and civil liberties erosions is that they virtually always become permanent, vested not only in current leaders one may love and trust but also future officials who seem more menacing and less benign. …
The politics of Empire and the National Security State were not an unfortunate deviation of the Bush years, and by no means something peculiar to conservative Republicans. The roots of American Empire go way back to the early 20th century.
New Left historian William Appleman Williams coined the phrase “Open Door Empire” for the consensus foreign policy that arose at the turn of the twentieth century. The version of Open Door Imperialism currently in place, the neoliberal system, traces back to FDR’s planning for a postwar global order. …
