Another anti-imperial voice lost

Chalmers Johnson, the historian and political scientist/economist, died Saturday. His death, an obvious personal loss for his family and friends, is also a blow to what is left of the American anti-imperial cause.

Johnson, in his most recent work, has demonstrated the designs on international power that drive our foreign policy. Basically, his work — along with books by historians like Andrew Bacevich — make it clear that we no longer rely on our military for defense, but use it offensively to project power and impose our will on distant nations and have been for decades.

It already has resulted in blowback (the title of one of his books) and will again. And when that blowback occurs, it will give the national security state all the justification it needs to shred the Bill of Rights.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet