The English term, ‘empire’ is derived from the Latin imperium for ‘to command’ or ‘to control.’ It is no surprise that when Smith uses ‘empire’ he tends to associate it with the Roman version. But he recognizes that he, too, lives in a empire. In his recent presentations that I witnessed my good friend, Ryan Hanley, is much taken by the rather pessimistic, final sentence of
Thanks for another interesting post!
I interpret Smith's union proposal as a put-on, a sly way of arguing for Let 'Em Go:
https://reason.com/2023/06/30/adam-smiths-sly-american-proposal/
Oh, I wasn't aware of your argument. I try to avoid relying on esoteric readings, so I will have to mull this.