As Americans, we have two heritages, each with different agendas, values and purposes, each in conflict and contradiction with the other. These different heritages are that of a democratic republic on the one hand, and that of empire on the other. Today we are caught between these two heritages as we explore and test the reasons for war. Our question is which heritage does war serve? Empire or Republic?

Let's look at our democratic heritage: Our Declaration of Independence. All humans are created equal. Each with certain inalienable rights. Government derives its authority from the consent of the governed. When governments fail, the governed have the right to abolish these governments and institute new governments.

In other words: People do not get power from the government, the government gets power from the people.

Then our Constitution: a "government of the people, by the people and for the people," designed to "establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty."

In other words, government is here not to control and use the people but to protect and serve the people. Like our system of free public education to all children. Like the WWII and Korean War GI Bills that provided low interest home loans and college education to millions of GI's whose resulting economic prosperity produced more tax revenue than the government ever spent on GI Bills. A democratic republic invests in its citizens, their liberation and their well being.

What does our heritage of empire look like? By definition, empire invests its resources in domination of its own people as well as other people. Empire will tell its subjects that they must pay for the most expensive military in the world but that we can't afford universal health insurance or publicly funded childcare for working parents.

American empire began with the domination of Indian lands and people. It built its wealth on slave labor imported from Africa. It conquered and occupied half of Mexico's land, then fought a Civil War over who would control the wealth producing labor in these new territories: the slave holders of the South or the factory owners of the North, who in turn paid their workers slave wages. After the Civil War American Empire turned to dominate the Caribbean, taking Puerto Rico and making Cuba an economic satellite. In the Pacific, Empire took over Hawaii and the Philippines, calling that ocean an American lake. American Empire then fought Filipinos for three years, using concentration camps to quell their rebellion against our Empire. Two hundred thousand, mostly women and children, died in these camps for lack of food and sanitation.

Americans like Mark Twain formed the Anti-Emperialist League to protest. Twain summed up Empire's mood, "And so by these Providences of God - and the phrase is the government's not mine - we are a World Power."

American Empire took Panama, made the canal and sent in the Army and Marines to control whoever governed in the Caribbean and Central America. After WWII, our CIA overthrew democratic governments in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954) and Chile (1973) when they dared to put control of their natural resources, Iran's oil, Guatemala's lands and Chile's minerals, in the hands of their people and out of the hands of American corporations. My old army division, the 82nd Airborne, was used to overthrow a democratic movement in the Dominican Republic in 1965. In the 1980s we intervened in Nicaragua and El Salvador to ensure American Empire. We invaded Grenada and Panama for the same reason. In all these cases, we violated international law. Nicaragua went to the World Court and sued the American Empire for its intervention. When the World Court found the United States guilty of international terrorism, the United States, in 1986, declared it did not recognize the authority of the World Court. Such is Empire when it comes to international law.

We can see how different Empire is from a Democratic Republic. In an empire the members are thought of as subjects: subjects of the king or emperor, of the government: "love it or leave it." Government secrecy is necessary because the people can't be trusted. In a corporately driven empire, its members are thought of as consumers: "to have is to be." Corporations and their CEOs invest in the best government their money can buy.

In a democratic republic, its members think of themselves as citizens who feel free to question authority, demand freedom of information, who participate in the decisions of government through voting and membership in a political party that is not owned by money.

When it comes to war, republics and empires behave differently. A democratic republic understands political power belongs to all and requires a formal declaration of war from elected representatives of the people. An empire concentrates political power in the hands of the few, and it is the few who make the decisions that lead to war. American empire invaded Mexico in 1916 to occupy its oil fields with no declaration of war. Wars in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf were fought without formal declaration of war.

So as we reflect on our dual heritage, empire and republic, as we think and talk about going to war, we consider three questions. Whose forces are making the decisions to go to war? The forces of empire or the heritage of our democratic republic? Which forces will benefit from the war? Empire or Republic? Who will pay the price? Empire or Republic?

How shall we respond to this challenge? We can respond with denial, "Empire is not really that bad. Empire and Republic are compatible." We can respond with despair and cynicism, "Yes, it really is that bad and we can't do anything about it." We can respond with hope, recognizing that injustice and empire have two offspring: anger at the way things are, and courage to change the way things are.

If our struggle for democracy at home seems overwhelming in the face of empire, we can remember: we are not powerless. We can do something and that something will lead to other things we can do. At the end of our lives we will be responsible, not so much to have succeeded, but to have been faithful to our heritage of a democratic republic, faithful to our consciences and ourselves.