Introduction
Imperialism is meant to serve the needs of a ruling class much more than a nation. It has nothing to do with democracy. Perhaps for that reason it has often been characterized as a parasitic phenomenon even by critics says from there it is unfortunately all too easy to slide into the crude notion that imperialist expansion is simply a product of powerful groups of individuals who have hijacked a nation's foreign policy to serve their own narrow ends.
Numerous critics of the current expansion of the American empire both on the U.S. left and in Europe now argue that the United States under the administration of George W. Bush has been taken over by a neoconservative cabal. The rise to prominence of the neoconservative hegemonists within the administration is thought to have been brought on by the undemocratic 2000 election, in which the Supreme Court appointed Bush as president, and by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which suddenly enlarged the national security state. Likewise, when the United States blundered into war in Vietnam, it retrenched and adopted a more patient strategy for waiting out its less capable communist opponents. The lack of a shared perspective--even today--on the Vietnam War stands in sharp contrast to the mobilized support among Americans following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The war on terrorism, following the loss of lives and destruction of property on American soil, has a united nation showing its flag colors on homes, businesses, mailboxes, and cars. Images surrounding the Vietnam War, in contrast, evoke grainy stills of flag-burning protesters and the deepening anxiety among the "establishment" that the constant arrival of body bags from a faraway war might be not only endless but futile.
Contemporary America, too, is capable of anticipating the counterproductive effects......
