Outside of the Imperial Army of Stormtroopers from the movie Star Wars, the idea of imperialism has sorta fallen outside of the American mindset in the modern world. It's almost as old-fashioned as pantaloons, monocles, and butter churning.

Almost.

The sum whole of Bryan's argument isn't necessarily a concern in today's day and age, but there are definitely parts of it that have popped up over the years. Here are a few examples.

Interventionism

To intervene, or not to intervene: that is the question.

If Shakespeare had been a 20th-century American instead of a 17th-century English playwright, he might have written this line (instead of the real one from Hamlet).

Whether it's been WWI, WWII, the Vietnam War, or the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and on and on and on, the U.S. has always been in conflict about whether or not to go to war. Pre-war groups have disagreed with anti-war protestors, Democrats have fought with Republicans, etc.

Sometimes it seems as though war has even broken out between these groups. Either way, Bryan was one in a long line of those who opposed U.S. interventionism and going to war in a far off land.

The "Evil Empire"

Ironically, even though Bryan's requests weren't met, the idea of imperialism being immoral and somewhat evil has remained strong.

President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union the "evil empire" during the Cold War. Sounds like a great name for a speed-metal band doesn't it?

Despite the name-calling, though, the Cold War itself was kind of all about two empires (the U.S. and the U.S.S.R) fighting for their vision of the world. The U.S. commonly criticizes the notion of empire, but its own imperial past remains an issue to this day.

Here are some examples from just the Spanish-American War alone.

• Puerto Rico remains an American Commonwealth and has never received full independence.
• In 2014, the U.S. military reopened several military bases in the Philippines, continuing a long tradition of an American military presence.
• The American government remained involved in Cuban politics until 1959 when Fidel Castro's revolution overtook the island. The U.S. military still operates the infamous Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility on the island as well.
• Guam remains an unincorporated territory of the United States and hosts both U.S. Army and Navy Bases to this day.

Outsourcing

If you thought the Made in America movement was a modern phenomenon, think again. Even Bryan worried that too many jobs were being shipped overseas:

In addition to the evils which he and the farmer share in common, the laboring man will be the first to suffer if oriental subjects seek work in the United States; the first to suffer if American capital leaves our shores to employ oriental labor in the Philippines to supply the trade of China and Japan; the first to suffer from the violence which the military spirit arouses and the first to suffer when the methods of imperialism are applied to our own government. (95)

This statement was a minor argument in Bryan's grand scheme of things, but it should sound a little familiar. There's even a sense here that he's fighting for the 99%, claiming that the rich and powerful start wars but expect the less fortunate to fight them.

These arguments are still around today. So, if you ever find yourself getting tired of politicians talking about them with no solution, just remind yourself that these problems have been around for well over a hundred years…and probably aren't going away any time soon.

Now don't you feel better?

Is the Non-Imperial Empire Still an Empire of Imperialism?

Trick question—well, actually it's a nonsensical question.

But historians and political scientists continue to ask, "Is the United States still an empire?" True, the U.S. ended its imperial holding of the Philippines in 1946, but it's been argued that there's' more than one way to play the game of empire.

Take the term cultural imperialism. What happens when one's cultural beliefs dominate and overtake another's? For example, Hollywood in the U.S. has dominated the global movie industry for generations. Because of that, American values have been spread throughout the world, but not that many different world values have come into the U.S. via the foreign film industry.

Economic Imperialism has been used as another example. American companies have spread across the globe in the 20th century. You can purchase a Coca-Cola product nearly anywhere on earth. Because of this, U.S. companies like Coca-Cola have completely eclipsed its foreign competitors.

Or in the case of the Philippines, when Bryan said that "our missionaries seek souls instead of sovereignty" (103), was he actually condemning one form of empire but celebrating another? Are missionary operations a form of domination when they represent a powerful country's religious values over a less powerful country's indigenous sense of religion?

Whew.

We know, we know: we just threw a bunch of vague philosophical questions at you. And trust us, there are tons more to ask just like them. These are the types of ponderings that can make your brain feel unappreciative for what you're trying to do to it.

Don't try to solve them in one night. It's definitely not recommended. But do be aware that these are things being asked about the nature of empire in the modern world.