The Failure of Empire

[I]mperialists would like to ignore how neoliberalism has gutted the former source of our strength [(manufacturing)], has led us to increased reliance on Intellectual Property [(IP)], and has not offered the people in our realm of influence the stability [Robert] Kaplan claims empire brings [http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/in-defense-of-empire/358645/]. People can’t eat, they can’t educate their children, they can’t retire because of the policies Kaplan and his buddies have pushed around the world. And the US solution to this is more trade pacts that just further instantiate IP as a core value, regardless of how little it serves those people who can’t eat.

[...]

It’s a lot more expensive to coerce power, both in terms of the military adventures or repression you must engage in, but also in terms of the dragnet you must throw across the world rather than the enhanced communication of an open Internet. Nevertheless, the Obama Administration, for all of Kaplan’s claimed post-Imperialism, seems to be doubling down on more coercive (or, in the case of trade agreements, counterproductive) means of retaining power.

  Emptywheel – Marcy Wheeler

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.