Chapter 2

The Immodesty of

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American Empire: A
Constitutionalist
Perspective on
Neo-Jacobin
Universalism
Claes G. Ryn

Central to the thinking of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution was

the need for taming power. The drive for power had to be contained most
fundamentally in the souls of individuals but also through external restraints,
including constitutional checks. The Constitution continues to enjoy great
respect, especially in ceremonial contexts, but today is a norm for political
conduct more in theory than in practice. Many American leaders speak often
about virtue and about America having a related moral mission in the world,
but their conception of virtue does not, like the traditional conception,
induce moderation and a sense of limits. On the contrary, it manifests and
feeds a strong will to power and a sense of limitless possibilities. Influential
forces want the world’s only superpower to attain global supremacy. They
propound an outlook far different from the moral-spiritual and political heri-
tage that gave shape to the Constitution.
In the last several decades, an ideology of American empire became
increasingly common in the American foreign policy and national security
establishment both inside and outside of government.1 Needless to say, the
advocates of this ideology do not aspire to empire in the old-fashioned sense
of permanent occupation of large territories. Empire in that sense would be

10.1057/9781137093417preview - The Culture of Immodesty in American Life and Politics, Edited by Michael P. Federici, Richard M Gamble
and Mark T Mitchell
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