USA as an Empire

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Lets say America decided to be an actual Empire. How much of the world could be overrun by the USA? Mass producing ABLs to keep the skies free of enemy nuclear devices, and mass producing all other military hardware, drafting all of the unemployed to serve in some military capacity depending on physical ability, hiring mercenaries to occupy conquered lands. How far do you think the USA could go as being an actual Empire versus just being an "economic empire"?

We would easily take the Western hemisphere, and probably Africa as well (though that might stretch our supply lines). In Europe or Asia we would run into other military powers, and I doubt we could overcome China so easily.

Let China have Asia.

Interesting proposal. An alliance with China and a "gentleman's agreement" to respect each others respective spheres of influence would leave us a free hand to take most of Western Europe. Russia would remain a serious obstacle, but we could leave much of it for China.

China is setting up a sphere of influence in Africa (as is Japan to an extent). If somehow it took the leaders of the United States to go onto multiple wars of conquest abroad, I think we'd see these developing countries have some support from other powers like China, Russia, and the European Union; some of these powers are nuclear, which invokes M.A.D. The United States doesn't engage in direct military conquest (excluding things like Afghanistan and Iraq) because we can exert influence less directly but with more effect and less cost.

We could easily take North America. We'd have to conquer a small portion of South America and move the Mexicans there because their culture and brand of politics (i.e incompetence, corruption, crime, and dependency on social services) would be extremely detrimental to building a huge empire. Their labor would be useful but masses of people like them contribute to the fall of empires unless they are forced into the army or into slavery, so we would just round them up and deport them.

We could also hold Sub-Saharan Africa, Antarctica, strategic potions of the middle east, and it looks now like Afghanistan would be worth holding onto as well.

We could make a secret deal to give control to most of the Eastern Hemisphere to China and since Europe lost the balls to participate in such a venture at some point in the last century they can sit and watch.

I don't think we could become an actual empire, in the sense that the Romans or the Mongol Empire was one. The reason we use economics as a tool for domination is precisely because it doesn't actually need us to commit our own forces. It is much easier to set up puppet governments and dictatorships in third world countries so that said nation can use their own army to subdue the population, and thus make exploitation much easier.

We never had the resources or the manpower to occupy the Middle East to begin with. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan, we did deploy puppet governments on those nations for a reason...

Besides which, the Europeans have already tried to do that in the past. The result was two world wars and the collapse of the European empires, thus shifting the balance of power from them to the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Further conflict in the Middle East will most certainly result in the U.S. losing its superpower status.

Of course, I abhor nationalism and imperialism anyway. The world would be much better off without such things.

Soft Power can be exerted much more economically than Hard Power (which is essentially military domination or conquest).

ruveyn

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

Forget the "white man's burden" crap. American citizenship for everyone!*

*Note: if you do not comply peacefully, we can and will kick your butt until you do so decide to comply.

We'd probably start by taking over the arab world and india. We'd also probably ask that the United Nations surrender to us and who knows what would happen after that.

The Arab world, yes. Not India though, since they are our ally.

Everyone in the new Empire gets to be an American citizen?

By the way, I thought that Pakistan was our ally, against India. What happened there?

Extending American citizenship to all will no doubt be a very popular idea. See how enthusiastic Arizona is about that right now.

I seem to recall that one of the advantages of Roman citizenship in the old Roman empire was that if you were sentenced to death, then you could have your head cut off. You didn't have to be crucified.

This might be a selling point for American citizenship.

Actually, if you had read Acts even, an advantage if sentenced to death was to be permitted to appeal to Caesar for your life.