[lbo-talk] Nye on empire

[Dwayne Monroe]

“Despite its natal ideology of anti-imperialism, the
United States has intervened and governed countries in
Central America and the Caribbean as well as the
Philippines. But imperialism has never been 
a comfortable experience for Americans, and only a
small portion of the cases led directly to the
establishment of democracies.”

Nye’s essay makes some interesting points.  But, as
the statement above reveals, it is built upon a common
assumption: that the US’ interventions - bloodshed and
mayhem notwithstanding - have been motivated by a
desire to create democracies.  This can be described
as the ‘good intentions gone awry’ premise.  It has
provided folks from the acceptable liberal end of the
debate spectrum a ‘loyal opposition’ platform from
which to make their muted criticisms.

Like the stories of the Easter Bunny and St. Nick, the
premise suffers from a certain lack of supporting
evidence.

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