{Seeing if I can still post in this thread}

The record shows that the United States, while not for all times and all places quite free of empire building, is nonetheless the *least* imperialist of any great power on record. America came late to imperialism, and very halfheartedly, never making a single tributary province. The longest hold we had on a significant-sized trust territory was of the Philippines, and that for not quite fifty years -- less than a man's lifetime.

And we've given all of it back to the natives -- and this after conquering more land area than some empires that were intended to remain permanently.

That is our habit; I don't see us changing. We have an instinctive avoidance of imperialism because we recognize it's quite bad for business -- our dominance on Earth is not through conquest but through trade.