There was a time, as it was heard, that the "sun never set" upon the British empire; but that was back in the 19th century, and since that time, Great Britain as the preeminent power has seen its sun set, and except by grabbing upon the coattails of America, that island nation, is no longer an empire, and will never again be one. That, for Great Britain, is probably just fine, for at least Great Britain still exists as a viable nation, still has relevancy, and there are advantages in Great Britain not having to directly concern itself about foreign nations and those territories, that were once under their domain, especially when they can have the United States act as their proxy, in so many different ways for them as well as for others.
The United States, has no contiguous enemies, but for whatever reason, as reported by politico.com, "…maintains nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad," of which this can only be described as an empire; so that it is far more appropriate to describe the United States as being an empire, for that clearly is why it has all of these military bases so as to protect and serve the monetary interests of its military-industrial-technology base that thereby runs this empire for that very purpose.
Of course, with all of these bases and with America having international relations and international concerns with just about every sovereign nation that so exists, that military serves as the muscle for the United States to get other countries to submit, one way or another, to their needs, demands and desires, as the military in order to somewhat justify the gargantuan amount of funding it receives by its government each individual year, has to exert itself against offending countries, that often cannot hope to offer any semblance of a practical defense and therefore must suffer the indignity of their infrastructure being bombed out of existence, the lost of businesses as well as any semblance of a ordinary life, along with the considerable civilian deaths so suffered, that is the byproduct of American military muscle so exerted.
The downside, though, of any empire is how extended that empire gets, and thereby how much money and resources that are necessary to sustain such an empire, of which, no matter how much effort is extended for such, complications and unforeseen events always arise; in addition to the inevitable resistance so created so as to attempt subversion of that empire, both internal as well as external. All of this combined, necessitates eternal vigilance, which also necessitates in more ways that one, an oppressive surveillance state, both domestically as well as internationally, which quite obviously breeds both contempt and resentment by the people, being directed against that land of liberty, for subverting its own reason for being.
Make no mistake about it, 800 military bases, is only necessary for that which is an empire and none other. Quite obviously, that empire benefits a very, very few at the expense of the many; and in addition, is the very reason why the world as we know it, is less free today, then it was yesterday, for empire demands obeisance, obedience and tribute, more than anything. All those then that support that empire or actuate such, are therefore by definition, not patriots; but the very opposite of such, for they mean to take away our life, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness-- and to forge upon us -- chains.