The American ruling class—the plutocracy—must plan to dominate the earth; to exploit it, to exact tribute from it. Rome did as much for the basin of the Mediterranean. Great Britain has done it for Africa and Australia, for half of Asia, for four million square miles in North America. If the people of one small island, poorly equipped with resources, can achieve such a result, what may not the people of the United States hope to accomplish?
That is the imperial task.
1. American economic life must be unified. Already much of this work has been done.
2. The agencies for shaping public opinion must be secured. Little has been left for accomplishment in this direction.
3. A martial, confident, restless, ambitious spirit must be generated among the people. Such a result is being achieved by the combination of economic and social forces that inhere in the present social system.
4. The ruling class must be schooled in the art of rulership. The next two generations will accomplish that result.
The American plutocracy must carry on. It must consolidate its gains and move forward to greater achievements, with the goal clearly in mind and the necessities of imperial power thoroughly mastered and understood.
XVII. THE NEW IMPERIAL ALIGNMENT
1. A Survey of the Evidence
Through the centuries empires have come and gone. In each age some nation or people has emerged—stronger, better organized, more aggressive, more powerful than its neighbors—and has conquered territory, subjugated populations, and through its ruling class has exploited the workers at home and abroad.
Europe has been for a thousand years the center of the imperial struggle,—the struggle which called into being the militarism so hated by the European peoples. It was from that struggle that millions fled to America, where they hoped for liberty and peace.