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Empire is a much maligned word, and with good reason - tis power has been much abused in the name of economic conquest. But like many words, it is one with two meanings - an ideal one, and its shadow.

As the shadow of our economic empire has spread accross the globe, the next place it threatens to touch is the Republic of Iran. And yet the very laws of empire say this is illegal. Let’s examine them more closely.

According to Cicero, and the higher laws of all our republics, it is illegal to attack a country unless they have attacked first. And then, it must first be declared on the public forum, and reparations asked for first.

Few of the presidential candidates were even aware of this fact. Remember Mitt Romney? When asked if he knew this, he said he’d have to “Ask his lawyer.”

Likewise, Ron Paul knew he’d have to ask the constitution and consult the senate, but th laws of the Republic are higher than this. Neither one got to the true meaning of the question, which is that it would be illegal to attack Iran since they are not developing nuclear power for military use.

Now all the republics know this, and would be familiar with Cicero’s work (although it was obscured until the 19th century, due to the incident of Augustine having written his City of God over it). Since it it such a good model, we know that any candidate that actually does try to attack Iran on these grounds will be committing war crimes.

On the other hand, Cicero says that Rome got far by going to war for the protection of our allies. And so we come to the true use of empire. First, let me tell you what it’s not: it’s not for financial gain (although it will sustain a temporary economic boom).

According to the following article, written by J. S. Richardson, on the meaning of empire, the word has become twisted over the years.

Originally, the word was the power to use physical force, and it was one of the two powers taken away from the king when the republic was established. Why then were these two powers given to the executive branch in our republic?

The other power, the power of iudicium, or the power of judgment, the executive himself gave to the supreme court at an earlier part in American history. This just goes to show: our consitution is not perfect, and so far doesn’t even really aim at the ideal

Likewise, it is not for the people, nor was it really by the people. By and large, we have a lot of work to do on our consitution. Money, black gold, has replaced the place of the people in the state, and now we have a state of affairs.

Thus we need a statesman to safeguard the executive branch for a politician.

The shadow of empire has spread across the land. We have not conformed to the platonic, or ciceronian in this case, ideal - most people weren’t even aware there was one for empire - and so have found its shadow.

Empire can sustain a temporary economic boost (we saw the in the United States, with World War II), but it is not meant for this: when a country tries to sustain this boost, the metaphor becomes overextended as well.

Going to war to protect our allies seemed to be the first precedent the Bush administration gave for going into the Republic of Iraq , but going in has to be soley for this reason, and never for extending our WEALTH.

According to journalist Joe Lauria, “but to continue the profits of the war industry, to continue that wealth and that power, the phoney power of the Soviet Union was given out through the media basically at that time, and continued throughout the 70’s.”

Lauria, who authored of Gravel’s A Political Oddessey about his experiences in the Senate, said “The militarists controlled the country, despite the warnings of Eisenhower at that time, which proves that the president is subject to oligarchic interests, and he can only do so much, even though he spoke out early in his administration, Eisenhower, against militarism.”

Eventually, the military takes over the government of the host country. “In 1973, there was a unique event. The United States lost a war. THe militarists were on the defensive. Tehre was a national self examination. There were hosue and senate comitties looking into what hte us had done wit h that power and wealth.

Had it used it for progress at home and abroad? Or to simply mulitiply that power and wealth for its own purpose, simply to become richer and powerful.

…The dommestic problems that this created, by spending too much on war industrioes, both at home and abroad.

Such economic booms are bought with blood money, and those that live by the sword die by it. Absorbing the war industry of the nazi’s also led this country to absorb its darkness, and has left it in the bloody PR tangled of the present day, where people all over the world have recently become disillusioned with the United States, upon seeing a demonstration of how it uses that power to sustain the oil industry.

Therefore,we have found a clear line demarcating the wrong way to use empire - and on the flips side, also the right way