[Cyrus]

I mean, you are practicing your bluffs, right ?

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It just fascinates me that the US is so vilified by the world and even people in our own country.

[/ QUOTE ] You are easily fascinated. There's nothing mysterious about this. People the world over admire the American system of governance, its people's intrinsic values and its culture. (Do I need to scare up "polls" to show any of this? I hope not.)

At the same time, people the world over resent American imperialism. You should read a couple of dozen quotes from American political leaders of the 20th and 19th century about "America's destiny in the world" (read: the need to assert and project its power over the globe). Perhaps you'd be fascinated.

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Don’t they realize that the only thing that has kept them from enslavement is the US Constitution?

[/ QUOTE ] If you are referring to the American people, you are putting cart before horse. If you are referring to foreign people, the U.S. constitution had nothing to do with any of the "humane interventions abroad" (=military action) that America engaged throughout its history.

Nations do not have "feelings", señor Iglesias! They have interests.

...Fascinating, innit?

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Imagine for a moment that all that power was in a monarchy.

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If forced to choose, yes, I'd much rather have American imperialism than Nazi or Soviet imperialism. This is a no brainer. I'd rather have a democracy oppressing me than an despotic nation. For obvious, selfish reasons.

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Was there a more colonial or imperial president than Teddy Roosevelt?

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I'll say No! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] And thank you.

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It’s very possible that without [the US constitution] FDR or Truman could have cut a deal with the Soviets and the Chinese to slice the world up three ways.

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So, the constitution stopped them - and not the stone cold assessment of the power balance and the prospects for a hot war, either conventional or nuclear? I'm fascinated with your fixation on the US constitution as the end-all and be-all in world affairs!

But I suppose you are not aware of the fact that the United States did actually "slice up the world" with the Soviets in a series of "deals"! Most publicly, in a little conference held in a little city inside the USSR called Yalta. (You didn't know that? Fascinating.)