Those calling for an end of the Empire don't seem to realize that
the federal state's vast entitlement programs are ultimately funded by the
Empire: not directly, but indirectly via its ability to foist trillions
of dollars of debt on the world economy.
The believers that hot wars are all there is to the Imperial
Project fall silent when their share of the swag might be threatened.
Unsurprisingly, we want the financial benefits of Empire but recoil at the
entanglements of Empire.
Imperial Rome offers a useful
template for what happens when the domestic populace gets dependent on Imperial
wealth: the notion of sacrifice for the nation goes out the window and bread
and circuses become the sole source of state legitimacy.
Needless to say, collapse
follows these developments like night follows day.
