The unbearable costs of empire: Bush's war could help the economy in the short run. The big harm comes later.(Pres George W. Bush)

TALK IN WASHINGTON THESE DAYS IS OF ROME AND its imperial responsibilities. But George W. Bush is no Julius Caesar. France under Napoleon may be the better precedent. Like Bush, Napoleon came to power in a coup. Like Bush, he fought off a foreign threat, then took advantage to convert the republic into an empire. Like Bush, he built up an army. Like Bush, he could not resist the temptation to use it. But unlike Caesar's, Napoleon's imperial pretensions did not last.

Analogy is cheap but the point remains. Empire is not necessarily destined to endure, least of all in the ...

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