Tired of Empire? by Alan Bock

Neocons and nostalgics who still see America picking up the imperial baton from the late and lamented British empire might dream of eternal hegemony and a series of splendid little wars. As they have demonstrated, under certain conditions they can get a critical mass, and probably even a majority, of the American people to go along with a given war. Many Americans still like to think of the country as a pure-hearted avatar of democracy facilitated by force of arms. And many Americans can get downright bloodthirsty (at least vicariously, in that they hang flags on houses and root our "brave boys" on to slaughter) for a while. Indeed, some are bloodthirsty most of the time, ever looking (again, vicariously most of the time) for some villain to kick the crap out of.