The last time I checked, a country can't just decide that they're going to be a superpower.

No, but it can decide not to be a super-power.

an effort to build an empire

We're not necessarily talking about occupying the land. It's enough that US throws its weight around in order to exert influence over other countries, for the benefit of US corporations. Chile is a good example of this.

In a way, the US is lucky in this regard. When the British decided that they wanted to trade with other countries (in order to enrich their own merchant class), we actually had to invade them with troops. The US gets to use McDonalds and Disney.

Part of the problem is that we here in Europe see (from our perspective at least), the US making some of the same foreign policy decisions/mistakes that we did when we were empire-building. How can we tell the difference?

Don't get me wrong. I like America. I like all of the Americans that I've met -- both in person, and on the BBS. But, face it, your government comes across as arrogant, and misconstruing our criticism of US policy as criticism of US citizens is entirely missing the point.