U.S. - The Evil Empire

Great Debates
1

It occurs to me that the U.S. has evolved into a thoroughly evil empire. We have elected a recently born-again moron who was snorting coke and wild partying into his 30’s. While the majority of U.S. citizens believe that Bush stole the election, he enjoys the support of the majority of U.S. citizens. This same leader is thumbing his nose at the world community in regard to the environment, because complying with the Kyoto treaty would slow down the economic development of the amoral society that spits over 25% of the greenhouse effect gasses into the earth’s atmosphere.

This same leader has decided to ignore decades of carefully crafted nuculear proliferation treaties, resulting in great concern on the part of our allies, and motivating disjoint enemies to attempt to collaborate to work against our agressive arms stance.

We can’t be bothered as a nation to support U.N. initiatives such as resolutions against violence against women and children, bans on the use of land mines, and the wide-scale distribution of weapons systems and small arms. We remain the world leader in the production and distribution of weapons, which has generated tremendous instability and promoted war lord societies in much of the third world.

Frankly, I am ashamed of the recent policies and actions of the U.S. government. I believe that the citizens of the U.S. are capable of motivating their leaders to behave as responsible citizens of the world community. I don’t understand why U.S. citizens have become so ambivilent regarding the actions of their government in world affairs.

2

Oh yeah…???

If we’re such an evil empire, then where’s our damn Death Star[sub]tm[/sub]?

:slight_smile:

3

snorts some coke, disolves into a coughing hacking fit, nearly dies

Ugh, I think I will stick to drinking it. No, I’ll stick to Pepsi alltogether, thanks.
I don’t think America is an evil empire. Just misunderstood. It has its flaws, some dark times, and some light times. Over all it is arguably the best system of goverment to date. (arguably because it is a debatable statement)
Personally, though, I am more for a Monarchy. I detest democracy. Give the idiots of the world the chance to vote, and of course they will elect a moron.

4

And Dammit, I want some Stormtroopers, who can’t hit anything!!!

(Does this mean Russia has little green guys with big ears running around?)

5

Oh, the state of education these days.

We’re an Evil Republic. Sheesh.

6

While it’s not exactly the smartest thing this country has done, I really don’t see how that makes us “evil”.

Cite?

Supporting one’s leader is evil?

What exactly constitutes “thumbing his nose”? Not allowing foreigners to dictate policy?

Wait, you said it’s evil. Now it’s amoral? Which one is it?

As well as a comporable proportion of the world output.

I hardly think that “reevaluating” and “ignoring” are the same thing.

Isn’t that redundant? Aren’t all arms stances aggressive by definition?

So it is evil to disagree with world opinion?

7

I thought rants belonged in the pit. Has that changed?

8

::Smacks The Ryan in the back of the head::
Whattaya trying ta do?

Turn this into a debate?

:slight_smile:

9

Every time I see a post like this, I am going to send some money to the Republican National Committee.

10

It ill behooves one to refer to one’s President as a moron and then go on to deplore “nuculear (sic) proliferation”.

11

Just out of curiosity, could some one tell me just what factors differentiate a benign empire from an evil one.

12

A country can be both empire and republic.

I think that the US is more of a hegemony than an empire though.

Nor do I think it is evil - it just panders to the economic interests of powerful lobby groups. Nothing unusual there, either, compared to the rest of the world.

13

“Imperialism” as a word has a suggestion of “evil”.

Not quite sure what Ronnie Reagan was thinking of when he coined the phrase - was he suggesting the the counter-balance to the Soviet Union, the US, was a benign empire? - it just had good assonance, I think.

14

heh heh heh… he said “assonance”…

15

Sure. The fact that a Benign empire does not exist. Evil is subjective anyway. Hey, at least they aren’t putting Jews to death with poisonous gas and burning the bodies.

16

All right – so when and why did “empire” become a Politically-Incorrect descriptor? I suspect it may date from the turn-of-the 20th century, and be related to the unpleasant way the 19th-Century partition of much of the world into “imperial” spheres of influence went (Leopold of Belgium and the Congo; the Brits in India; the Treaty Ports in China; US intervention in various southern neighbors). Still, before the 30’s “British Empire” was considered a proper and fine way of address, wasn’t it?

I guess someone’s gonna have to define “empire” and “imperialism” for the sake of this debate.

17

Two things that strike me:

  1. First you say that “we have elected” Bush, then say very soona fter that he stole the election. If he did, then we didn’t really elect him, did we? So which is it?

  2. I didn’t know Bush was “recently born-again.” When did this happen? Why have I never heard anything about this?

18

Maybe he was refering to the fact that Bush stopped drinking in 1981, now wait, it was 1986, or maybe 1992.

19

From OED:

I should have known that it was used disparagingly in Communist writings, but I was thinking more of the use of it by third world countries after WW2.

The US falls into definition II 7.

20

I said that most US citizens believe that Bush stole the election, per an “opinion poll”.

Regarding “born again”, I recall reading that Bush became a “born again” Christian sometime in his 30’s, and that this event contributed to his turning away from drugs and alcohol.

I always have thought that Regan was thinking of the movie “Star Wars” when he used the term “Evil Empire” to refer to the Soviet Union.