Evil Empire 55so what does it matter, for those of us who strive for peace and justice,
that the U.S. military had its start in killing indigenous populations, or
that U.S. imperialism has its roots in the expropriation of indigenous lands?
It matters because it tells us that the privatization of lands and
other forms of human capital are at the core of the U.S. experiment. The
militaristic-capitalist powerhouse of the United States derives from real
estate (which includes African bodies, as well as appropriated land). It is
apt that we once again have a real estate man for president, much like the
first president, George Washington, whose fortune came mainly from
his success speculating on unceded Indian lands. The U.S. governmental
structure is designed to serve private property interests, the primary ac-
tors in establishing the United States being slavers and land speculators.
That is, the United States was founded as a capitalist empire. This was
exceptional in the world and has remained exceptional, though not in
a way that benefits humanity. The military was designed to expropriate
resources, guarding them against loss, and will continue to do so if left
to its own devices under the control of rapacious capitalists.
When extreme white nationalists make themselves visible—as they have
for the past decade, and now more than ever with a vocal white nationalist
president—they are dismissed as marginal, rather than being understood as
the spiritual descendants of the settlers. White supremacists are not wrong
when they claim that they understand something about the American Dream
that the rest of us do not, though it is nothing to brag about. Indeed, the
origins of the United States are consistent with white nationalist ideology.
And this is where those of us who wish for peace and justice must start: with
full awareness that we are trying to fundamentally change the nature of the
country, which will always be extremely difficult work.