• nBodyProblem@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    2 months ago

    Can you imagine the Italians running everything? Sure there’d be plenty of good pasta and wine worldwide but I doubt we’d stay productive with three-hour wine lubricated lunch breaks every day

    I say the USA needs to have a proper go at an empire. People could serve in the legion (navy) for citizenship and everything

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 months ago

      I say the USA needs to have a proper go at an empire.

      Please no. As Teddy Roosevelt once noted, we lack the interest in it. Let’s just not.

      • nBodyProblem@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        2 months ago

        Hard to argue we don’t have the appetite after spending our first 150 years conquering territory roughly double the size of the Roman Empire at its peak

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          2 months ago

          That was more ethnic cleansing than traditional imperialism. Not that I disagree that describing it as imperialism is valid, but it’s not what TR was talking about. The point was that Americans lack serious interest in foreign affairs or a desire for distant prestige projects. Our every overseas acquisition, temporary or permanent, has been marked by a noted uncertainty of what to actually do with any of it. Not that that makes any of the folk getting crushed happier, but it does reflect a lack of interest in the whole topic.

          • nBodyProblem@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            2 months ago

            Perhaps we just need to generate a little excitement.

            Gladiators worked nicely for the Romans, maybe we could generate similar hype with a reality show to choose the governor of each new province. I think “Love Island, Argentinian Governor Edition” would be a real hit.