David Ignatius does the I-was-so-much-older-then-I'm-younger-than-that-now thing better than most of them, but I'm struck by this one Friedmanesque anecdote that Ignatius cites.

As I think back to the crucible of 2003, two remarks made by Arab friends stand out particularly. One was from a Lebanese Shiite who supported the war, but on the condition that America was resolute enough to finish what it was starting. "If Rome is strong, the provinces are ready," my friend said.

There was a lot of this back in the day. There was a strong school of thought — hello there, Niall Ferguson! — that held that America now held the white man's burden in the Levant. The "liberal" position was that we were the new British Empire. The "conservative" position was that we were the new Rome. As someone whose family was in this country at all largely because of the gentle ministrations of imperial Britain, I felt queasy at the whole notion. I would hope that, back in the day, Ignatius was at least sensible to quote to his Lebanese friend the warning from J.Q. Adams that has been far too often ignored in the history of the country.

"She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy."

You can argue all you want about whether the stretch of American influence — military or otherwise — makes America an empire, or merely imperial. But you can't argue that it was meant to be one and still call yourself an American.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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