PERSPECTIVErnRemember the Mainernby Thomas FlemingrnHenry Luce coined the phrase “The American Century” asrnan expression of the mihtant economic globalism that hasrncharacterized American policy from the days of WilhamrnMcBGnley. Luce, the pubhsher of Time and Fortune, was thernchild of missionaries in China—a product, in other words, ofrnAmerican religious and cultural globalism. It is no small ironyrnthat this preacher’s kid was the chief spokesman for a globalrnmovement which, in its mature phase, has emerged as the principalrnenemy of the Christian faith.rnThe approach to Christianity taken by the postmodern, postcivilized,rnand post-Christian American regime is a seamless garment:rnAt home, the federal government bans prayer in school,rnenforces multiculturalism in the universities, and encouragesrnthe immigration of non-Christian religious minorities who beginrnagitating against Christian symbols the day they arrive;rnabroad, the regime refuses to defend Christians from the genociderninflicted by Muslims in the Sudan, while in the Balkansrnit has waged a ruthless and inhumane war against the Serbsrnof Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Serbia. The inhumanity ofrnNATO’s air campaign against villages, heating plants, and televisionrnstations reveals, even in the absence of other evidence,rnthe anti-Christian hatred that animates the Washington regime.rnThe destruction of Christianity in the Balkans, from this perspective,rnis only the first step toward the eventual goal, whichrnVoltaire summed in his personal motto, “ecraser rinfame.”rnHenry Luce was a devotee of the truly American religion ofrnprogress and profits, and after Worid War II his magazines reinventedrna United States that was strangely detached from thernrealities of American life. His vision of America as one vastrnYMCA youth camp—albeit the youth had nuclear weapons—rnwas about as realistic as the images projected by his contemporaryrnand rival, Walt Disney.rnTailoring his message to patterns laid down by his country’srnpolitical leaders, Luce did not believe that objective reportingrnwas possible, much less desirable. Today, Luce’s successors inrnthe media play the same game on a vastly bigger stage, and corporaternAmerica has merged the visions of Time-Warner-NBCrnand Disney-CNN-ABC into a global ministry of fear.rnLuce did not invent the American Empire; he only shilledrnfor it. His American Century began in the Philippines 100rnyears ago, when the American regime refined the policies andrntechniques discovered in the Civil War. For 100 years, Americanrnglobalists have pursued their aims, checked occasionally byrnthe will of ordinary people —populists and progressives, AmericarnFirsters and peaceniks—people who, until recently, couldrnnot be fooled all of the time. That was before CNN.rnThe oldest and best form of American imperialism is therncommercial expansion advocated by Republicans—McKinley,rnTaft, Hoover, and Eisenhower—who warned against the military-rnindustrial complex. Although all of these free-traders werernoccasionally willing to back up the politics of self-interest withrngunboats, they preferred to rely, whenever possible, on dollarrndiplomacy. McKinley had no hesitation about establishingrnAmerican economic hegemony in Cuba and the Philippines,rnbut he had to be dragged into war.rnFree trade, these Babbitts believed, could be the route tornmarket penetration around the globe, and one of the early slogansrnof commercial imperialists was the “Open Door.” Sometimes,rnhowever, the door had to be kicked in by the Marines. Asrnone spokesman for American industry put it 100 years ago,rn”One way of opening up a market is to conquer it.” This is whatrnBill Clinton meant when he justified his attack on Yugoslaviarnon the grounds that we need a stable Europe as a market forrnAmerican goods.rn10/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn