All Republics seem to become Empires after they achieve a certain amount of industrial and military strength; the threshold is the point at which the armed and state security forces become larger than the civilian authorities. Rome, The Dutch Republic, The United States. The French Republic became an Empire twice in the period after 1789. So much for ‘Liberte’, ‘Egalite’, ‘Fraternite’; so much for de jure fictions.
‘’Progressive Reform’’ -as understood by social-liberal and social democratic types- is the counterpart, in politics, to economic Keynesians. An economic theory as flawed as its ‘’bimetallist’’ precursor. What progressive reform does for the political system of capitalism, Keynesian economics does for its economic system. Both aim to save capitalism (as a political-economy), from itself. In this sense and in the specific case of the current Empire, ‘’progressive reforms’’ had the effect of protecting the United States political system; of maintaining the illusion de jure of the forms associated with the existence of a ‘’democratic republic’’. Reform Law thus became the basis for an elaborate exercise in perception management: If it looks and feels ‘’democratic’’ then it must be. The emphasis is placed on superficial imagery and not on substance.
The legal and electoral system of the United States only exists to grant legitimacy to a political economy premised on the private ownership of capital. To reinforce the illusion of ‘’democracy’’ superimposed on a highly un-democratic social reality. Hence the institution of juries and ‘’periodic elections’’ where fraud and stage management are the norm and from which legitimate opposition candidates are excluded. Discourse is limited to ideas and premises that accept private ownership of capital as immutable conditionality. The 20th Century ‘’reforms’’: Direct election of senators; Extending to Women the right to vote; Limits on presidential terms; State and local referenda; Anti-trust laws; The 8 hour day; The minimum wage; The fiction of ‘’Civil Rights’’ and ‘’Civil Liberties’’ constitute incremental steps in the process of de jure image construction, even if in most cases the reforms in question were forced upon the capitalist political class by popular movements.
‘’Progressive Reforms’’ have allowed the United States to maintain the de jure image of a ‘’democratic republic’’ while de facto it evolved, in parallel, into a highly centralised, militaristic, unilateralist, imperialist, and repressive entity that threatens humanity with nuclear extinction lest it not vow to the will of the ‘star and stripes’. The evolution of ‘Pax Americana’ begun in the 19th Century with the annexation of Florida, The Louisiana extortion, the invasion of Mexico, ‘’Indian Removal’’, the conquest of the Philippines; matured in the 20th Century with the 1947 passage of the ‘National Security Act’ creating a permanent war economy, Korea and Vietnam; and peaks in the 21st Century with the interventions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. These events where incremental and cumulative steps on the road to a global unipolar dominion that aims to wear the mask of ‘’Freedom’’.
The ‘’American Democracy’’ is only an illusion. The reality behind ‘Brand America’ is that the appearance of careful management is only the careful management of appearances. Who benefits? The 5% of the United States population that owns 80% of the wealth. The system of Empire exists for their benefit; the social heirs to the slave owning and mercantile interests that declared independence from Britain in 1776. This is why Marxists (correctly) define the capitalist political class as an executive committee for carrying out the collective will of the Bourgeoisie; and why they denounce ‘parliamentary cretinism’ for what it is.
///
post-script 2026
