I believe this is the way of the Drath?

I've done that. You might also try:

Building an influence base near a culturally weak planet, and selling back after it rebels each time;
Pull 90% of the population off some weak planet in the middle of your empire, sell it off, and wait for it to revert to your control;
Paying off a rival to make peace with the empire you're about to crush;
Sell all your rivals fairly powerful ships with zero defenses against your primary weapon.
Build a trade-only economic base over a trade route with rival X, then sell that base to that rival, turning your constructor production into profit, retaining the bonus to the value of the trade route, and handing over the logicistical cost of that starbase to your rival;

I wouldn't think of this as 'being good the bad way' or 'the way of the Drath.' if you've got a lot of diplomatic skill, you can pull this type of con-job off at great profit. I think it's a perfectly Terran thing to do, personally, but i'm just a wee bit synical.

Building an influence base near a culturally weak planet, and selling back after it rebels each time; Pull 90% of the population off some weak planet in the middle of your empire, sell it off, and wait for it to revert to your control; Paying off a rival to make peace with the empire you're about to crush; Sell all your rivals fairly powerful ships with zero defenses against your primary weapon. Build a trade-only economic base over a trade route with rival X, then sell that base to that rival, turning your constructor production into profit, retaining the bonus to the value of the trade route, and handing over the logicistical cost of that starbase to your rival;

I think your so evil u make the Dominion, Drengin and Yor seem like Torian lapcats

Have u ever considered a job with the USA government they would like how your mind works

As a tactic, it's no different than slowly wearing down their military resources directly.

It's different because, if it were a human playing, they understand the value of having cash around. They don't have a set price that they'll pay for an item no matter how much money they have. Even a stupid human isn't going to allow themselves to be bleed of their money just because you're asking for it at fair market value.

Besides, try doing any of this when you've got minimal diplomatic bonus

True, but I never liked the idea of diplomacy as something that you can use to attack the AI. While I don't consider other people's use of diplomacy to get stuff from the AI to be exploiting (since it's a designed feature of the game), I consider this designed feature to be ill-conceived and unpleasant.

A true GC2 master uses diplomacy for knowledge and defense; never for attack

I usually play Arceau. I do it differently. I start by maxing out diplomacy and economy as much as i can. Then, i reasearch some basic warring techs, just in case, and then i start down the technological victory branch. Every once in a while, when needed, i get more trade and more influence.

I never build a single ship except for constructors.

At that point, i usually trade with everyone and often have several allies. I keep buying off useful techs from everyone while bypassing the useless basic ones.

IF someone dares attack me (damn you Korx) then i switch all military, get together a fleet in 4 weeks and kick their ass. Then back to the tech victory tree, with the occasional diplomacy and economy tech.

It's working pretty well. And i feel like i take advantage of the ai. Most of them never try to attack me because they trade so much with me, but i'm SO weak all the time.

anyways, might not be evil, but certainly is devious

Oh, and I consider taking advantage of the AI by draining its money supply is the equivalent of an exploit.

Interesting, bery interesting.

Do you wear any padding in your clothes? Anything that might stop, say, a drath assasin?

Power may be fun, but would anyone give two craps about America if they weren't rich? Probably not. As it is, they dominate the world through strangle everyone else's economy, hence economic sanctions.