Wei,

You write:

> I don’t think that sort of “realpolitik”  was of great interest to Pound.
>  Pound genuinely believed his support for fascism was based on a
> moral foundation.

I would  agree with the second statement without qualification. But Pound
did see the fascists as engaged in a struggle with british imperialism and
an imperialist soviet ally, the two enemies of fascism being united by
corrupt economic systems.


> Pound believed in highly stratified, extremely hierarchical forms of
> goverment. He thought fascism was the best form for Europe, and that
> Confucian autocracy would be the best form for East Asia. I have
> consistently argued that there are NO BENEFITS.
>  How can one leave out the
> benefits when there are none?

And I have consistently asked you to described the benefits ONLY AS POUND
PERCEIVED THEM.  Note my _emphasis_:


> What
> forces corrode?  What good things does empire bring? _ As Pound envisioned
> them_.  Empire, in and of itself, is not THE GOOD THING for Pound, in my
> view.
> >>


> We could say that the consolidation of empire DEFENDS against disorder.
> That is the standard argument.  In reality the argument for the creation
of
> any empire is usually a smokescreen for powermongering, diverting
attention
> away from domestic issues, and weakening those who would make government
> accountable (who are criticized as traitors, or as people not dedicated to
> the greater cause).  Fascist and Confucianist efforts to consolidate
empire
> have been for these latter purposes, using the issue of order as an
excuse.

But Pound  provides examples over and over again  of the 'proper' attitude
of rulers to domestic issues.   One might consider him obtuse and
non-egalitarian, but Pound's motives had nothing whatoever to do with
WEAKENING ACCOUNTABILITY.

>
> Evidence?  Pound LOVES certain empires:  the fascist Italian Empire, the
> Roman Empire, and Imperial China.

The Cantos are replete with evidence of what Pound considered, rightly or
wrongly, to be the fruits of strong central rule.


> I live in the hope, perhaps a false hope, that human beings may soon come
to
> believe that Empire, in all its forms is evil, that it has been evil in
> virtually all its formations, and that it should be abolished as a species
> of political organization.


Even so,  you ought to risk a fuller accounting of what Pound perceived to
be the benefits of strong central rule by a moral ruler.

Tim Romano