There were in the 19th century two kinds of imperialism, according to Lord Carnarvon, Disraeli’s Colonial Secretary. There was the false kind – Caesarism, despotism – and there was the British kind – a world-wide trust, keeping the peace, elevating the savage, relieving the hungry, and uniting in loyalty all the British peoples overseas. Imperialism certainly meant expansion, but it was not bullying expansion, it was merely the extension of British institutions and "wholesome influences", if necessary by force. …like many nations at the summit of their power, Great Britain in the second half of the 19th Century was an image of conceit, and brazenly equated glory with strength, wealth and size.
From "Heaven’s Command", by Jan Morris (pp. 388-9)
Epicureanism rejects all forms of cultural bullying and arrogance, whether using military force or not.
So here we go again! The public is being prepared for a war against Iran this time, as if the country and the military didn’t have enough to worry about! “Wholesome influences” will be brought to bear! In reality this wholly unnecessary and plain stupid war, if it is pursued, will be the beginning of the end of America hegemony. Had they bothered to study history they might have had second thoughts, but ignorance rules OK.
There is nothing to be done, only return to the Garden and write a poem. The stupid, arrogant and violent rule and always will.
America is only two hundred years old. Not long enough to reach it’s zenith, never mind a decline. Rumors of American weakness are greatly exaggerated.