Extending the American empire in the US.

Quite shocking to see some of the film of police violence coming out of the US over the past week.  It seems amazing that the Americans, who pride themselves so loudly on being free, should apparently with a police force that behaves so like an occupying army.  The answer surely is that most, or at least most white,  Americans did not expect it to be used against them. As numerous writers have pointed out, state violence against all manner of groups in America is not new, most particularly against black or Native Americans, but let us not forget the Sedition Act.

However, it is a novelty to see a senior general parading around Washington DC in combat garb, to see massed ranks of no-one quite knows who, but some security force anyway, standing on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, and certainly to see American generals issuing statements reminding the world that they have sworn an oath to defend the country's Constitution.  In America's empire, no, that would not be surprising, or maybe surprising because so restrained.  But in the US itself, that is another matter.

Of course the USA always contained plenty of outsiders, shown only the stick and not the carrot, but handling them could generally be left to local forces.  Now it seems that that is not enough.  Why the change?

The rage in America now is surely that a large number of Americans who in the past have considered themselves system insiders, among those to whom the system shows its nice face, are worrying that they may actually be outsiders.

And behind that is the material fact that American capital is less dependent on American workers for its profits, either in the guise of workers or that of consumers.

Updated 18/01/2022 to correct some typos and make the language less ponderous.