The great sociologist William Graham Sumner explains how the imperialist wars result in the very opposite of their stated intentions. In this 1899 speech, he demonstrated how the ideals of the US were in danger of being displaced by the ideology the US was supposedly fighting. “We have beaten Spain in a military conflict, but we are submitting to be conquered by her on the field of ideas and policies. Expansionism and imperialism are nothing but the old philosophies of national prosperity which have brought Spain to where she now is. Those philosophies appeal to national vanity and national cupidity.... They are delusions, and they will lead us to ruin unless we are hardheaded enough to resist them.” FULL ARTICLE 