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Benjamin Franklin's argument for Joining against the British
Benjamin Franklin used this slogan to convince the separate American colonies that they had a choice of joining together or continuing to be enslaved by the boot of British rule. It neatly encapsulates both sides of a question that is probably the most important one in the world today.
Here are some examples going on right now.
The Arab League decision to join the international effort to force Syria's Assad from power is in the news today. This follows on the heels of a successful international effort to get rid of Libya's Ghadafi. The African Union has their troops in Somalia. And NATO is in "official" command of the war in Afghanistan.
These are, admittedly, fairly extreme cases. But Ghadafi insisted until the end that his government was the only legitimate government in Libya. Assad is saying the same thing right now. Established governments in Iraq and Afghanistan were thrown out by an armed invasion by foreign troops.
The point is that in all of these cases, national "sovereignty" lost out to an international, or at least foreign, decision. It's a slippery slope because there is no clear and accepted concept of when and how this should happen. When should a nation be sovereign? When should the rest of us step in and overrule national sovereignty? Remember ... whatever applies to Libya can also be applied to us!
It's worthwhile to consider the word, "sovereignty". It comes from the root, "sovereign" - absolute ruler. In classical thought, a sovereign is not bound by any law; a sovereign is the law. Clearly, this is becoming less and less true today.
Let's consider another case: the financial crisis going on in Europe. Country after country ... Ireland, Greece, Italy ... Portugal might be next ... have been forced to accept changes to their internal laws and policies by the other countries in Europe. Governments have been forced out and replaced by new governments. Greece was forced to cancel an internal Greek "referendum" that almost certainly would have rejected the changes being forced on the country, so the will of the Greek people is being ignored. The party of the former strong man in Italy would like nothing more than early elections because they believe they could regain power by a vote of the Italian people. They're not likely to get it because the rest of Europe won't put up with it. So the will of the Italian people is also being ignored.
National "sovereignty" loses again.
Around the world, this is probably one of the most universal issues. From Uighurs in China to Basques in Spain, local cultures want their own sovereignty but a larger entity refuses to consider it.
America ... or more properly, "The United States of America" ... has confronted this issue over and over again. The Revolutionary War patriot Patrick Henry - who famously said, "Give me liberty or give me death!" - was a Virginia patriot, not an American patriot. He opposed the union of the colonies and only fought against the British under the theory that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." And the American Civil War - still the record holder for American deaths in battle because both sides were American - was fought mainly to settle this question. There are those - candidate Rick Perry of Texas perhaps? - for whom this question might still not be settled. "States Rights" has been a rallying cry for conservatives since the revolution against the British. Many of them believe in their souls that they are "sovereign" in their own homes. Certainly, the Fundamentalist Mormons think so. They believe that if their menfolk choose to marry a dozen or so women at age 14, it's their own business and the rest of us should just butt out. Many Moslems have a similar point of view.
Former professor (UC, Santa Barbara) Garrett Hardin published an essay called, The Tragedy of the Commons in the journal Science in 1968 that has become the foundation document for those of us who believe that this is not only a good thing, it's an absolutely essential thing. If we are all allowed to consume as much as we want from a common resource individually, that common resource will inevitably be used up and we'll all die together. Conservatives have turned our point of view into a label they consider to be an insult: "one worlders". Climate change is proving that we're right. It is "One World".
Join or Die.
