Fight for reedom in America - Essay Example

Informal Colonialism in America The American Revolutionaries fought relentlessly for freedom, and they established laws to prevent the rise of imperialism and to promote isolationism and democratic ideals for all nations of the world. However, as the years have passed, America has gradually changed into a very different nation than what our forefathers imagined. Kinzer’s Overthrow highlights the blatant colonialism in American politics after its victory in the Spanish American War and its subtle use of it in later years to maintain a favorable commercial and power balances; Johnson’s “The Sorrows of Empire” describes in detail the rise of militarism in the United States of America, and how it has been used for destruction and private power games rather than for defense and protection. Both these books have described in detail America’s shift from an isolationist, democratic nation to a controlling, neo-imperialistic empire. Even before the Spanish American War of 1898, Hawaii was annexed to America after Queen Liliuokalani’s attempt to legislate to prevent American settlers on Hawaii from voting. The American minister in Hawaii, John L. Stevens, called for troops to take control of Iolani Palace, the residence of the Queen, and various other governmental buildings, using a huge warship from the United States Navy. Stevens claimed it was “for the protection of the United States legislation and the United States Consulate, and to secure the safety of American life and property” [Kinzer, 24]. After the war, the United States annexed the Philippines and acquired a military base in Cuba. At first, Americans objected, as the existing foreign policy of America at that time was the Monroe Doctrine, which propagated the essences of Isolationism i.e. the non-involvement of America in outside affairs. President Grover Cleveland referred to these economic annexations of foreign lands as “not only opposed to our national policy, but a perversion of our national mission” [Kinzer, 32]. However, due to rapid industrialization, economic opportunity in the newly acquired Pacific territory and feelings of Social Darwinism and protestant superiority; Americans were soon rooting for Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘Roosevelt Corollary’, which was added to the Monroe Doctrine, and which gave the United States of America the rights to manipulate Pacific trade with the nations in the Eastern Hemisphere. America slowly began to interfere in international affairs, using militarism and deception. Johnson has explained how, during the Cold War, agencies like the CIA were used to ferret out weaknesses of rival nations using special communications and weapons technology. He claimed that a whole black budget was designated for the technological tricks-of-the-trade in espionage. He likened the agency to the president’s personal army, bent on subjecting other world nations to the will of the United States and elaborated on each president’s contribution to the development of new and similar agencies: “In 1952, President signed a still secret seven-page charting a National Security Agency, which is devoted to signals and communications espionage; in 1960, President Eisenhower set up an even more secret National Reconnaissance Office which runs our spy satellites; in 1961, President Kennedy launched the Defense Intelligence Agency, the personal intelligence organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary for defense; and in 1996, President Clinton combined several agencies into the National Imagery and Mapping Agency” [Johnson, 117]. The United States has given its military and covert intelligence agencies limitless power and finances; their fetish for secrecy, misinformation and international manipulation are a slur on the original ideals of democracy. Kinzer’s “Overthrow” and Johnson’s “The Sorrows of Empire” have offered a different perspective on what we once thought were our country’s political aspirations and objectives. America was supposed to be a democratic nation that respected the freedom of foreign nations and in fact influenced Britain to give up her colonies after the World Wars, thereby promoting the establishment of autonomous nations. These authors have demonstrated that America used the fact that it was a democratic nation to gain entrance into foreign markets. It did not seek direct control of a nation or its market i.e. direct imperialism, but instead exerted subtle political and commercial pressures on foreign nations, in a policy that came to be known as informal colonialism or neo-imperialism. When the revolutionaries were forced to bear standing armies of Redcoats stationed in their towns, they swore that military influence in America would be limited to severe situations of internal unrest or external hostility. James Madison wrote “a standing [military] force is a dangerous provision” [Johnson, 120]. However, our current president, George W. Bush altered as many laws as possible to increase military jurisdiction and recruitment. The Northern Command was formed in 2002 by Bush and the Defense Department, which is intended to better position the military to protect civilians against terrorist attacks. Located at the Petersons Air Force Base in Colorado, its jurisdiction includes the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba, even though these other nations did not give their permission to the Bush administration. According to Johnson, even during World War II, there was never such a federally approved centralized command for America, simply because the potential for a military dictatorship existed. The budget used for the CIA and other military intelligence is at its zenith under President Bush. We believed the military of our country was limited to the defense of the country and separated from domestic law enforcement, but this is also becoming s falsehood. Johnson says: “As with the seemingly unstoppable growth of secrecy within the government, so to has there been implacable pressure from the Pentagon to expand its functions and seize bureaucratic turf from other agencies. There are many aspects to this problem, but perhaps the most politically, and certainly one of the clearest signs of militarism in America is the willingness of some senior officers and civilian militarists to meddle in domestic policy making” [Johnson, 119]. The freedom of the press is another vital ingredient that we thought was sacrosanct in America. After reading Kinzer’s and Johnson’s work it is clear that this privilege may well be curtailed in the future. Johnson describes “Operation Urgent Fury” during the Reagan administration that claimed that there were American students trapped on the Caribbean Island, Grenada, so invasion was necessary. Kinzer says: “The fundamental reason why countries invade other countries, or seek forcibly to dispose of their governments, has not changed over the course of history. It is the same reason children fight in schoolyards. The stronger one wants what the weaker one has” [Kinzer, 321]. Reporters were banned during the invasion of Grenada, and this incident marked the first time the media had been excluded from military activities. A reporter who had been on the island prior to the invasion was taken into custody and many media members who tried to photograph the incident stated that the Navy had attacked their boats when they were nearing the island. This was probably an attempt to contain military embarrassment during the taking an unprotected island. This only demonstrates that the freedom of the press is already being invaded. In my opinion, democracy must be restored for America, as the serious and sobering picture painted by these two authors illuminate the fact that America may be on the fast track to destruction. Like other empires before it, our Empire may also fall, as the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center proved that we are not immune to external angst, and that if we continue to interfere in the political realms of other nations, they will take up arms against us and try to destroy us. The United States was earlier a symbol of democracy, peace and equality; it is now a symbol of militarism, imperialism, capitalism and corruption. Military jurisdiction and power must be curtailed by the Parliament. Finances should be directed from the intelligence agencies to the citizens of America, their fuel needs, health insurance, housing, education and general well being. We must pull out of the Middle East, as the longer we stay there; the more likely it is that these fundamentalist nations will turn their religious furies from each other to us. The black budget of the CIA is not available for Parliamentary inspection, but it should be inspected and controlled by the Parliament so that the military and domestic fields remain separate and so that the President does not have such a massive communication and weapons technology arsenal at his personal discretion, unavailable for people’s representatives to scrutinize. The United States of America is a very wealthy nation and its position on the western side of the globe gives it natural protection from the skirmishes of Europe and Asia. Therefore instead of concentrating on international affairs, Parliament must divert fiancés to the betterment of the American people, technological advancement and perhaps, even space exploration. The American Empire will come crashing down, as history is in this case, is doomed to repeat itself. America must quit while it is ahead and return to its founding fathers original democratic legislature and livelihood so that true democratic principles can be upheld. Works Cited: 1. Kinzer, Stephen. Overthrow: America’s Century of regime from Hawaii to Iraq. U.S.A: Macmillan Publishers Inc, 2006 2. Johnson, Chalmers. The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic. Macmillan Publishers Inc, 2004 Read More