# Is the United States the center of an empire? Has it ever been? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-united-states-the-center-of-an-empire-has-it-ever-been/681634 "2014-02-18T17:43:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-united-states-the-center-of-an-empire-has-it-ever-been/681634/41 "2014-02-22T06:46:38Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > A thread in which we debate – wait, I don’t do Great Debates. Rule 147. Let’s start over. A thread in which we _discuss_ the United States and its history of imperialism, with an automated poll to get things going. > > You’ll note that the poll options include options for Native Americans. Obviously I’m not the boss of you, so I can’t tell you how to define that term; I can only ask you to follow your conscience and to be as honest as possible. For instance: one of my mother’s mother’s father was a full-blooded Choctaw (as if “full-blooded” means anything), which means I’m 1/8th; but I don’t think it would be right of me to call myself Indian. > > Poll in a moment, but don’t let that slow you down; it’s just a way to start the discussion. That said, everyone who votes gets a bottle of brandy teleported over. The US is not imperialism.The British where and same with Spain. I wish the US was bigger and own Mexico,Canada and Australia. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-united-states-the-center-of-an-empire-has-it-ever-been/681634/42 "2014-02-22T11:54:04Z")
Quite apart from its strong influence over many foreign lands, the USA itself takes up (because it has expanded into and taken over, often by force of arms) a very large proportion (including most of the population, and nearly all the best land) of a whole continent, plus a bit beyond. Its population is culturally and ethnically diverse, and, due to its sheer size, its geography and climate is diverse too. That’s an empire right there. Note that it also very overtly advertises itself as consisting of several different quasi-independent states, united into one. Yes, this means “The Russian Federation” is an empire too. So is China, of course, which, I suppose, is why they used to have a emperor, despite having relatively little interest in subjugating foreign lands. Canada and Australia are not empires. There are not enough people and most of the area of each is essentially unpopulated. I am not sure about Brazil. The USA is not an empire quite like the British Empire was, or the French, but not so very different from the Byzantine or the Austro-Hungarian (again, quite apart from the ways in which American power is projected beyond America’s own bounds). Incidentally, I note that there is no poll option for me. I marked that my position is too “complex”, but it really isn’t. The United States is an empire and has been at least since the constitution was adopted, bringing the states firmly under the sway of the federal government. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-united-states-the-center-of-an-empire-has-it-ever-been/681634/43 "2014-02-24T16:30:34Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > The US is not imperialism.The British where and same with Spain. > > I wish the US was bigger and own Mexico,Canada and Australia. _Australia_? The other two are bad enough, but _Australia_? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-united-states-the-center-of-an-empire-has-it-ever-been/681634/44 "2014-02-24T18:32:40Z")
To reduce our dependence on foreign poisonous creature supplies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-united-states-the-center-of-an-empire-has-it-ever-been/681634.md?page=2)