June 23, 2026: 1776-2026--USA Imperialism, Capitalism, Militarism, Racism

Voices of Resistance discussed the founding of what became the USA based upon imperialism, capitalism, militarism and racism vs. the myth of coming for religious freedom on last week's show.  Today, we discussed how imperialism, capitalism, militarism, and racism brought us from declaring independence to today, 6/23/26--from the theft of land and people by the trading companies to enrich the colonies and the king to the continued theft of land and people to enrich the rich in the USA and impoverish the rest of us.  Manifest Destiny was achieved in 1848 with the acquisition of Mexican territory, and then additional military actions and purchases completed mainland territory and brought in what became the states of Hawaii and Alaska; the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines; and control of Cuba.    The 1823 Monroe Doctrine prevented European resettlement of the Americas, as Latin America became the USA's backyard to exploit by its corporations.  

After dropping two atomic bombs on civilian populations to end WWI, the USA emerged as the unipolar empire and created the School of the Americas and the operations branch of the CIA to train Latin Americans to foment unrest in their countries, assassinate leaders, undertake regime change coups to further exploit the land and its people by the USA and its corporations.

Next week, 6/30, just days before we celebrate 250 years of the USA, we will summarize how these 250 years of USA imperialism, capitalism, militarism and racism have continued to enrich the rich and impoverish the rest of us, particularly in the global south. Then we ask "What is to be done?" and suggest alternatives for the next 250.