>Because they're nuts. They don't realize how good they have it, and how
>much worse they can make it.
>
>I think we have to be clear that just because an empire has a purpose
>doesn't mean its following its interests. Vietnam, for example.
Did the U.S. really lose the Vietnam war? The only revolution of consequence after the U.S. withdrawal was in Nicaragua, and that didn't end very well. Vietnam itself was ruined - impoverished and poisoned. From that experience, the U.S. learned never to use a draft army again.
Of course, the empire management may not always do the smart thing. But I'm skeptical of such arguments. They have, after all, run the most successful empire the world has ever known for over 50 years. It will end someday, and maybe Bush's unilateralism and overreach will be its undoing, or at least do it some damage. But I think the presumption should be that the people who sometimes look like wackos really know what they're doing.
Doug