...The weak always whine about the actions of the strong, because whining is all they can do. It's a sad fact of history that every nation of power has behaved in an "Imperialistic" manner, simply because they can and it's often in their best interest to do so. If Iraq was the power that America is, I would fully expect them to act like America is, if not worse.
Fact is, no matter how violent or "war hungry" America has been, it pales in comparison to what every other major power has done, and what many of the current powers WOULD do, given the chance.
I believe the point - at least, my point - is not that America is so imperialistic (an inevitable thing in a great power that helped to win a gigantic war), but that it is hypocritical in this regard. The Founding Fathers are not the entire nation, but their advice is constantly brought up by Americans. To remember the words of those great men is a blessing upon Americans, but to understand their words would be glorious.
Americans speak of freedom and capitalism (my two favorite things), and of the wise words of their Founders, but when a foreigner complains that American troops are in their country, some unthinking Americans yell "you're such a wuss; stop complaining!" My point is not that imperialism is the sole evil of Americans and no one else was ever guilty of it, but that Americans had and have a special duty to avoid exerting such militaristic influence. Frederick II of Prussia, Elizabeth of Russia, George III of England, and Louis XV of France didn't preach and warn against empire, so they cannot be accused of hypocrisy and shadow imperialism when they proclaimed a Prussian, a Russian, an English, or a French "empire". However, the Founders of America
did specifically speak out against imperialism and nation-building; it was their core principle, for goodness' sake.
I mention Washington's farewell address to Congress because it seems very fitting in this situation. Good, freedom-loving Americans would do well to stop saying "you're just jealous of our power!" when a foreigner complains, and to remember that Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and all the other federal founders spoke out against this precise behavior. The gosh-darned point of America, at first, was to act as a "shining beacon" and a "torch"; not to immigrants, but to other nations and other peoples to see in the darkness of dictatorship and imperialism. The light was not the tail-signal of a bomber, and it was not the swinging lantern of an armed ship of the line, but it was a torch held up on America's shore, saying "It's possible! Freedom is possible!
We did it here, and you can do it too with encouragement and faith in natural law! Rise up against such oppression, just as we did, and we will be your partners in trade and good will!"
The Barbary Wars, wherein American fleets destroyed the three-hundred year old Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean sea, are often brought up as an example of early American interventionism. However, only if the Barbary raiders had merely been attacking
European shipping would America have been hypocritical to attack the Barbary coast, and this was not the case. American merchant vessels and trade ships were being attacked en route to Europe by these same bold raiders, so it was a war of national defense and not of foreign intervention. I wholeheartedly support wars in defense of a nation, and thus I believe it was right to go into Afghanistan to find that rat, Osama bin Laden. The only problem is that America descended into Afghanistan, found not one trace of bin Laden... and stayed to build up with NATO!
If a group of the founders stepped into today's America, they'd be called hippie isolationists by
some of the very men who invoke their great names daily! I love American values, but come
on. You can be an American and believe in state power and intervention, but don't invoke the names and words of your non-interventionist, diplomacy-driven, free-trade loving founders!
off". 
