Imperialism/Anti Imperialism Essay
“You make the American flag in the eyes of a numerous people the emblem of sacrilege in Christian Churches…” Few words can be spoken that are truer to the sentiments of other countries when it comes to the United States of America. Thanks to our “expansion of trade for the better of the world” we have gone to war, killed thousands, and cost billions of our wealth and the wealth of other already poverty stricken countries. Of course many can argue that without imperialism much of the economy wouldn’t be where it is at now. In the end it is a very debatable issue that even now can go back in forth with mention to the event going on in Iraq.
At the turn of the 19th century the Philippines was imperialized by the U.S. and to this day it remains an impoverished country, without much aid from the United States. Even now we are infatuated with changing the world around us instead of making reforms that can help the country; there are still people here who are impoverished. Look at the victims of Hurricane Katrina it took the government days to respond to a devastating internal affair that left many people homeless and even worse dead. If we can not respond to something like this then what gives us the right to go around spreading our “democracy” with people who could hardly care less. It is similar to what Daniel Dickinson said in 1884 “Nor have we yet fulfilled the destiny allotted to us.” This was said over 150 years ago and it still very evident that we are not the “city on a hill” as many politicians preach we are.
The argument for imperialism makes a lot of sense financially and in some ways it is the right thing to do. The U.S. exports and imports a large quantity of valuables each year and this is one of our most successful forms of amassing our wealth. One of the reasons that we are not a third world country even in our debt, is because we have imperialized many different parts of the world such as the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. Senator Albert Beveridge stated that “Today we raise more than we can consume.” Thanks to imperialism we can give better wages and care to workers from the United States, of course we would be trading our workers for the other laborers across the globe.
The War in Iraq, even though it is shrouded in the mist of the salvation of Iraq it is still an imperialistic ploy by the U.S. to acquire more resources. This doesn’t mean that the war was for the sake of oil but it is more of a “spoil of victory.” It is a central issue because people are out there getting blown to pieces without knowing if it really is the right thing to do. The economy has taken a serious hit so it can’t really be said that the war was worth it in the sense of wealth. This is similar to what happened in the Philippines and it brings more of a perspective of what happened over 100 years ago.
In all sensed imperialism has to do with an arbitrary value on everything, which has sprung from the greed of people. Thanks to this value Americans have lived comfy lives in their luxurious homes while third world children in Ethiopia try to survive through famine. But this is just how life is and if we were to imperialize everything it would be the same. The only answer to this is true Communism but that is just the opinion of a fanatic so, Im not sure. | 
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