Imperialism in all of its forms, whether formal or informal, is nothing but an overextension of American power into regions where it does not belong.  America believes in democracy within its own nation, so on a global scale, why should the U.S. be a dictator?  Imperialism is against all of the values which our founding father's so dutifully set forth; it defies liberty, it crushes freedom and disregards democracy.

According to Hobson, imperialism is the direct result of nothing but an economic issue within our own nation - it is not the desire to "help" other nations which drives American imperialism but the underconsumption (and overproduction) within our own nation. 

The War against Spain began after the purely accidental explosion of The Maine, which the McKinley administration blamed on the Spanish. Americans claimed that this war was meant to "help" Cuba, was actually driven by greed, the desire to expand the American empire.  America took for itself the lands of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Phillippinos, transforming the islands into colonies with no consideration for their wishes to remain independent.