Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource TomPaine.com Stories Description An account of the resource TomPaine.com -- a liberal advocacy organization -- distributed a public call on August 12, 2002 for 300 word "opinion advertisement" similar to those that the organization had been running regularly in the op-ed page of The New York Times. TomPaine.com received hundreds of submissions from the public, most of which the September 11 Digital Archive has preserved here. TomPaine Story TomPaine Story: Story HEAVILY THICKENING TO EMPIRE I used to think he was too pessimistic. When I first read Robinson Jeffers poetry, I thought he gave up on the idea of America too quickly. In Shine, Perishing Republic Jeffers spoke of America heavily thickening to empire. In Be Angry at the Sun he wrote: America must accept like the historical republics corruption and empireÖ I rejected that. Fired by Dr. Kings nonviolence and the civil rights movement, I believed America was getting more democratic, free, equal. Vietnam War resistance fueled my hope that America could reverse the transition to empire. Those hopes are dimmer. Once, Americans believed in leading by example. And our ideals of liberty and justice for all, though penned by slaveowners, did inspire freedom fighters from Selma to Soweto, from Gettysburg to Gdansk. Now the sun never sets on the American Empire. US military bases circle the globe. American culture, language, commerce, music, media, movies, athletes rule. International organizations bend to American willóor else we ignore/defund them, or force their leaders to resign. We view allies as assistantsóor we just go it alone. The UN, which America largely created, is now denigrated. US-inspired treaties are honored only if convenient. International banks are pressured to force smaller nations to cut health/education budgets, and vote for leaders we prefer. America bestrides the globe, like Rome, like Britain. Example has become Empire. After 9/11, we need to askóis an empire what we wanted? It has, after all, been tried previously, with poor results. In Shine, Perishing Republic Jeffers was pessimistic about our ability to change course: And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the mass hardensÖ Was he right? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource tp46.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-02-24