"I'm certain "we" -- assuming you mean the people of the United States -- are not an evil empire. "

True enough. But that's the normal enough situation in any empire, however evil it may be be its impact may be.

I'm sure the USA as it expanded across North America was full of great goodhearted people with the best of intentions - and that's not irony on my opart. But for the Native Americans it was about as evil as any empire can be. The same kind of thing can be said about the British, the French, the Spanish, the Romans. And in most cases along with the bad things there were good aspects.

But over the long run, I think its fair to say that empires destroy more than they build. And the way they can change and distort the home country is perhaps as devastating as anything.