Nice essay! You've shown that the problem of "empire" isn't new but haven't addressed why it repeated (and has many times I believe).

Do you really believe wealth is taken by empire from other nations? If wealth is taken from the U.S. why are there so many wealthy Chinese living here? Why so many wealthy Russians in the U.K., etc? There seems to be something trans-national about wealth inequality; that is, it begins on the individual level.

If most families don't share their wealth equally then what hope larger structures? In a family if someone become a drug addict often they're eventually cut loose (and end up homeless). Right? Wrong? Until we can fix that, what hope anything on a national level? Perhaps it can never be fixed.