Tides of Guff

The Colonel gets a lot of guff for promoting expansion of the Republic.

In complete disclosure, the Colonel gets a lot of guff for a lot of things he says and does.  If guff were gold, the Colonel would plaster his name on big buildings, host a reality TV show, and run for president.

He would be yuuuge!

Alas, guff ain't gold -- the Colonel will remain big ideas trapped in a diminutive physique.  

The biggest idea, the one that has bounced around in his brain-housing group for most of his life, is that the destiny of the American Republic is expansion.

The history of the American Republic was expansion.  The Colonel fervently believes the future of the American Republic is expansion.

Look, the Colonel admits that the Republic's previous two centuries of expansion have not been pretty.  Glorious, sure.  But, not squeaky clean.  To be sure, the indigenous populations extant on the North American continent five centuries ago suffered a terrible cultural inundation and physical loss.  A cottage industry of sorts has been established on the portrayal of the noble Native American as a victim of European racism.

The Colonel can relate.  His ancestors, Clan MacGregor, were in possession of lands, in the northern reaches of Britain, wanted by others.  The struggle for those lands did not go well for the MacGregors.  In fact, the name MacGregor was actually outlawed at one point.  The MacGregors lost nearly all of the lands they had originally controlled.  Lots of MacGregors left Britain and landed in America.

The truth is that had Clan MacGregor, and not their enemies the Campbells, been in the good graces of the English king instead, the MacGregors would have driven out and supplanted the Campbells.

It is the way of man.

And, if one takes an honest and clear-eyed look at the history of the inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere in general, and the North American Continent in particular, one will see that the "Native" Americans extant on lands at the arrival of Europeans, had themselves supplanted previous inhabitants, often violently.  So much for victimhood.

Widen one's scope of view worldwide, and millenniums long, and tides of humanity can be seen sweeping back and forth across the major continents, supplanting and/or assimilating the previous inhabitants.  

It is the way of man.

Focus forward centuries into the future, and one will see the trend continue -- tides of humanity sweeping back and forth, inundating and replacing. 

Given the way of man, the inexorable sweeping tides of humanity and cultures replacing and assimilating, there is no static option.  No standing still.  It's either grow or shrink.  Expand or wither.

The Colonel believes there has never been an empire in history possessed with a greater degree of altruism than the American Empire.  It has warts, certainly.  It has scars -- fading reminders of mistakes.  But, warts and scars are superficial.  Our Empire's heart -- our Constitution -- more than makes up, with beautiful protections and promises, for any superficial imperfections.

The Colonel further believes that the Constitution of the United States -- the beautiful beating heart of our Republic -- has no peer on the planet. 

It is the United States' Constitution, not our "culture," that makes us the greatest nation on the globe.

It is the United States' Constitution, not our military power, that makes us the strongest nation.

It is the United States' Constitution, not our economic power, that makes us the most prosperous nation.

Above and beyond the obvious cultural, security, and economic benefits of expanding the Republic, there shines the most brilliant reason for inclusion of greater territory -- the people.

The Colonel would have you reflect back to a point in our history when the United States annexed the northern half of the territory held by the Mexican government.  You can argue, effectively, the "legality" of that action.  It was a naked act of aggression. 

What you cannot argue is which half of that former Mexican empire has done the best for its inhabitants since.  The difference is not "culture."  That is a thinly-cloaked racist position.

The difference is our Constitution.  We should share it with more people.