Carlson/ 3-10-10
USA: Empire or World’s Aid?
Having military bases stationed in over a hundred countries overseas and being able to drastically change the world’s economy by changes in our own country could be classification for an Empire like nation. The Untied States (US) presence throughout the world doesn’t go overlooked, everyone knows that we have our hand and say in almost every issue that arises. We have given ourselves this title of an “over watcher” of the world. Having to take care of everyone’s problems and aid these countries that are all geographic areas we can use and benefit from. We are not the classic case of an Empire like nation because we do not have this monarch like government where one person rules all, but we do have a central figure as our decision maker. Which has the option to determine what happens and where, essentially being one in control of a great number of nations and forces. America has been this growing nation ever since its beginning and it has expanded greater than the founders could have ever imagined, and with possible dissatisfaction if they were still around. The main question here is what has America become? Is it an Empire like nation ruling all, or are we in all of these countries just for peaceful reasons.
With the expanding military of the US we began to take over more territories and adding our forces to their lands. Throughout America’s history we have been in 234 recorded instances where military forces have been called into action. All of these instances vary in size, authority, and reasoning, however, they have all been for the protection of the citizens or for greater interests to the US. When you look at some of these issues you can see what the issue was and some idea of what went on and others just seem to tell you as little as possible.
You can look at the militaries presence as something where we are trying to expand our “empire” or you can see it as protection to that country. Most of the wars and issues we have entered have been because a country was in need of aid or was being attacked. We would show up, solve the problem and make sure all is well in that area. While being there we have to set up these quick military bases for our troops so we can have some organization and a way to stay together. After we have eliminated the problems we have all these temporary bases that we combine and create a couple main bases so we can stay connected with a military presence. Saying to all of the other countries, if you have a problem with them you will have to deal with the US. This is a strategic and I think beneficial method, it allows for our military to be in a variety of places where gives individuals living scenarios they prefer and gives them the option to travel all over the world and work. This comfortable feeling allows people to be more productive and keeps morale high.
The US has about a quarter of its troops overseas, in about 150 different countries. This number seems pretty large when you think of the volume we have other places and in such a variety of countries. But there are around 190 countries in the United Nations (UN) so it seems like we have a lot of people displaced out and in random countries, but in reality we are not even deployed into all of the countries we are basically allies with. So