The Bandit Gospel |
Imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends toward an evil from which it has been the goal and pride of Americans to be free, militarism.
All men, of whatever race or color, from whatever country or province, are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “no man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. When the white man governs himself, that is self-government, but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government-that is despotism.” The United States has always protested against the doctrine of international law which permits the subjugation of the weak by the strong. A self-governing state cannot accept sovereignty over an unwilling people.
It is the obligation of all citizens to question their Government in times of peril applies like this one. Any person or party that stands for the forcible subjugation of any people ought to be destroyed. Oppose for reelection all who in the White House or in Congress betray American liberty in pursuit of un-American ends.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States must be rescued from the hands of their betrayers!
Expansion and empire-building, growth and domination were immediate concerns for our country as soon as national independence became a reality. The
American “entanglements”
Indeed, in his farewell address President George Washington, like John Quincy Adams an ardent expansionist used anti-imperial rhetoric, he suggested that “harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations is recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing.” Rooted in the fresh memories of their war against British imperialism, ambivalent views on state power, and an attachment to republican values, this isolationism has meaning to Americans that is being practiced in current political affairs.
“An instance of gross and cruel oppression”
The appropriation of Indian Territory occurred in a period of great expansion, as Americans believed it was their “Manifest Destiny,” the belief that the
“Violating the spirit of the constitution”
Imperialists now claim a legal justification for building a continental empire, the Monroe Doctrine. Crafted by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and announced by President James Monroe in 1823, the doctrine states American influence in which the
“The war against liberty”
Started by