From Republic to Imperium

Three independent incidents:

1. USA Today revealed today that the NSA had been tracking the phone calls of millions of American customers of AT&T, Verizon and one other provider.
2. Several websites published the letter from President Ahmedinijad of Iran written to President George W. Bush of the US. Contrary to the dismissals, the letter, as Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com pointed out in his article, made several important points.
3. Featured on Tech Horizons, a public access channel from the George Mason University, was a review of Face Recognition techniques. Appearing as a panelist, a former general indicated without any disquiet that in the future, technology would ensure that all our movements anywhere would be tracked because we would be recognized.

Reading an article in the American Conservative by Michael Vlahos the same evening, I realized that he had brought these three, and so many other disjoint and disparate items of news and confusion together. His article, "The Weakness of Empire", identifies how 9-11 transformed America from a Republic to an Empire. He points a key fact that an empire consists of the people trading their voice for their putative security. He also points out that an empire needs constant military engagement. Hence, no talking to Iran. A vital article. A must read.