Where goes the Empire now?
Its interesting to speculate about what the Empire will look like under President Obama. Last year talking with a friend, a former Attorney General of the State of New Mexico, we described Amerika as a great ocean liner, going through the ocean. “And its going over the edge of the earth, right?” I said as I ate my burrito. My friend said that a new regime could steer the liner a little to the left, or a little bit to the right, but that the liner would keep moving forward.
Will it? President Obama will not dismantle the Empire. I doubt he could , even if as President, he wanted to. But he will preside over an America that is no longer, first among Nations. England and France both lost Empires and remained real world powers, without being able to use the power of armies, which they no longer had.
How about a future of American culture? This is a legitimate and non-violent field in which Americans, if they wish and if they deserve to, can lead the world. It is a world in which minds replace missiles, filmmakers replace generals, quilts replace smart bombs, surfer boarding replaces water boarding.
Not a bad future at all.
Bleak Beauty Blog 
Comment:
Hey Danny,
I think it is pretty clear the our current commander and thief has done more to dismantle the empire than obama would ever dare to.
I question your hopeful image of a future American culture where one form of solf imperialism replaces the current fascist vogue. First we would have to decouple the surf board from the water board because currently one facilitates the other. My point being that the Pop culture is providing circus while the despotic oligarchs laugh their way in Mobutu fashion to the bank .
If there is any truth to the idea that some how American artists can lead the world , they may find it much harder to do so without their big daddy’s boot on the the competition’s neck. I’m just sayin is all.
From occupied Scheyischbi,
GL
I think culture would include things greater than artists, an over used word. No do I think
the success of so many american things, like jazz, photography, and movies and blue jeans is because of any dark forces at work. France spread many wonderful things around the world including both their literature ,their bread, and their films, long after the defeat of their armies.