That view is orthodox among whom? When I was young, the idea that Americans actually benefit from the empire was a view held by Bush/Cheney neocons and World Economic Forum types. Your average Gore/Kerry voter thought it was a scam to redirect money to the military industrial complex: https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/d3te8h5g76htb7k...

Until Trump came onto the scene, the phrase “Pax Americana” was conservative coded: https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-american-empire-pax-a...