American "Imperialism" Writ Large

Seeing the photos of the first lunar landing and the first man to walk on the moon brought back a rush of memories this last weekend. Planting Old Glory on the lunar surface was an effort of blood and of sweat and of tears, which came at a cost not only of our national treasure, but the lives of men dedicated to serving their country.

So, I think it is interesting to note, in the face of those who bleat about American "imperialism" where there is no empire, should consider the tremendous opportunity that the United States passed up forty years ago this week:

In the past, the way that a country laid claim to any unclaimed or virgin lands was to send an expedition there and plant one's flag upon its soil. That land might be forfeited to force or purchased away with more treasure, but the United States could have pressed a valid legal claim for making the moon the 51st state.

I remember, as a boy, I had trading cards that showed the exploration of space, and one of them showed astronauts raising the UN flag on the moon - the meaning being that no one country should lay claim to the Earth's primary natural satellite.

But, it wasn't a UN flag that Armstrong and company raised on the moon, it was the Stars and Stripes. We, as a nation, had in our legal grasp the largest unclaimed territory in over a quarter of a million miles and yet, we declined from making any such territorial claims. Just as we recaptured Kuwait from Iraq and gave it back to the Kuwaitis, and captured Iraq from Saddam Hussein and gave it back to the Iraqis, the US does not have imperialistic aims.

The twits who like to listen to the sound of themselves calling for the US to stop its "imperialism" are going to have to wait for it to start first!

Remembering that flag and the race to put it there, made me think of just how foolish the charge of American imperialism is and has been for decades.

Cross posted at Say Anything