The need for American economic imperialism

Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit in the title to draw attention. So sue me.

Fall of 2006 was fairly busy for me, so I missed reading some stuff from my top Sith Blogroller, Orson Scott Card.

Card is allegedly a Democrat, but he cites Mark Steyn with some degree of approval in making an argument for the United States as the stabilizing force in the modern world.

Card did a great job of summarizing and adding to my idea of the role the United States plays in the world, along with the role of energy supplies.

Here's a nice cross-section, but read the whole thing.

America has not been imperial -- we have not been stripping other countries. On the contrary, those nations that were able to sustain the internal peace necessary for production, and that have joined the economy presided over by America, have all been able to join in the prosperity as equals.

We don't tax them -- quite the opposite. We have taxed ourselves to pay for the military protection that maintained the safety and perception of safety that allowed the European community and Japan to flourish. Their welfare economies are only possible because they did not have to pay for their own defense at anything like the levels we have paid.

People talk about America's enormous defense budget as if it were a menace to the world. But our enormous defense budget has allowed Japan and Europe -- and Taiwan and South Korea -- to thrive without having to invest much of their gross domestic product in defense.
(The Ornery American)