Aug.-Sept. 1982 RAIN Page 5 AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM APPLEMAN WILLIAMS To understand the present, we must understand the past. The American present, this time of domestic dissolution and international danger, has its roots in a past ofcontinental and global expansion. This imperial road has been well charted by a school of historians that first emerged in the late 1950s, the revisionists. William Appleman Williams might be described as "dean" of the school. In works such as The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, The Roots of the Modem American Empire, America Confronts a Revolutionary World and Empire As a Way of Life, Williams has painstakingly documented the American propensity to avoid dealing with internal conflicts through external expansion. As Williams and others have noted, the era of expansion is aver, leaving us with a difficult backlog of problems to solve here at home. From our history, Williams has drawn the outlines of an answer. He has suggested we look back to the years immediately following the American Revolution, years when the United States had a working, decentralized form of government, a confederation. We should think in terms ofa new confederation, says Williams, a confederation of self-governing North American regions in which we could begin to build a true continental community. Recently, I visited Williams at Oregon State University, where he currently teaches, to discuss empire, confederation and practical steps toward restructuring American government. He gives us a historical-political framework through which we can reach our dreams of a just and ecologically durable society. His words tell me we can change things if we know where we are going and how to get there. — Patrick Mazza RAIN: How would you summarize the American Empire's current condition and prospects? Williams: It is obviously in a state of serious transition, and nobody has figured out what next version of the empire is possible or appropriate or rewarding. It's a serious problem for the managers of the empire. I don't see any precipitous decline in the sense that the British declined after World War I. The empire might blunder into some potentially disastrous mistakes, but I do not see any inherent collapse for the next 10 years or so. RAIN: When you look at a map, how do you see the
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