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JabairuStork
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Joined: February 27th, 2002, 12:45 pm

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August 30th, 2002, 5:48 pm

The United States has outgrown an 18th century system of government and should dissolve the union and revert to a confederacy.??????????
 
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Onuk

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August 30th, 2002, 5:56 pm

Then they could emulate the admirable example of the EU. I believe that the point of checks and balances in government is to make any action almost impossible thus preventing a decay of the excellent status quo, something which the EU has taken to its absolute zenith.No, even under Bush the US is better as a political organ than the EU.
 
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Hamilton
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Joined: July 23rd, 2001, 6:25 pm

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August 30th, 2002, 7:06 pm

EU -- Confederacy -- emulateConfederacy of Dunces
 
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James
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September 2nd, 2002, 7:06 am

I am a life member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Military Order of the Stars and Bars* and as a faithful son of the loosing side of the War of Northern Agression (also known as "The War Between the States") I can dis-recommend Confederacy.It weakens the executive office and makes waging and winning a defensive war difficult. Much as I admire Jefferson Davis, Benjamin P. Judah, and Robert E. Lee, the de-volution of power to each office they held under Confederacy made co-ordinated policy difficult and counterproductive at crucial points in time. There is more to the story of the South loosing the war than the so-called moral superiority of our Northern bretheren, and the lack of industrialization. Lee's competance sustained us, but Confederacy's significant flaws emerged during its short life. We would do well to dwell less on the issue of slavery in our examinations of this period of U.S. history, and pay more attention to the difficulty of decision making under this example of Confederacy.Ironically, Confederate money, both paper script, and the extremely rare coins (one of which only but a single example exists) are now much more than their face value and are prized by collectors. So-called "Union" coins and script from the same period command....eh-hem...less interest in the market. The lesson? I'd buy up those pretty Russian Imperial bonds if I were you.*As I also am distantly but nevertheless partially of African descent I will reply to cretinous acqusations of racism because of my association with these fine institutions with photgraphs of myself and family. I find burbon typically proves restorative to their schocked recipients.
 
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Aaron
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Joined: July 23rd, 2001, 3:46 pm

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September 3rd, 2002, 4:48 pm

I agree that confederation is not an optimal form of political organization, but it can work well in some cases. Consider the Benelux countries which maintain ethnic and cultural diversity, while cooperating on most economic and foreign policy questions. Yugoslavia worked much better than the alternative, either before or after. Confederation status might solve otherwise intractable problems like China/Taiwan, Israel/Palestine, Quebec/Canada, UK/Northern Ireland/Southern Ireland as well as complex problems in India and Indonesia and satisfy stateless minorities like Kurds and Macedonians.Nationalism, the idea that people who share a common language and cultural memory should have their own state, often conflicts with economic and poltical realities. If you make the nations too small, they are not self-sufficient. Many families and even individuals require joint citizenship. Drawing borders is a huge problem because populations overlap geographically.If you make the nations too big, they are rent by factionalism. Governments must deal with religious and cultural minorities.On top of these factors, many powerful organizations have a self-interest in sabotaging nation-formation. Neighbors may want a weak, fragmented set of countries that can be easily controlled. Commercial interests may want a corrupt administration, or to separate economic resources from large numbers of people. Religons may want maximum resources for their adherents.Confederation is a flexible alternative that should at least be considered.
Last edited by Aaron on September 2nd, 2002, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.