Quote:
Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b
Oh, I harbor no illusions; I'm quite certain most nations would not want to give up their sovereignty to a world government. But it would be the best thing for the world.
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I agree on both things. However, founding a world government is not a problem of having nation-states wanting it or not (IMO).
If someone designs the proper propaganda and can convinced people (anywhere in the world) that they are part of the same community it will be done and achieved in no time. Nation states being the best proof that all this lay on nothing serious outside faith (back on what Paul said in the first place).
I still wander how someone could convinced people in France or US that they belong to a same nation.
When a frenchmen refers to a stranger, he is not talking of someone from outside the country but simply of someone from outside his village (or community). For exemple, where I live you find nine villages in the county (I use county to make this more understandable to all). Seen from my village (and the elders would tell you exactly that), 3 are allied, 3 are ennemy villages and 2 can be considered neutral (in fact located too far to be either ennemies or allies). And I'm not even talking of regional particularism.
Nevertheless, in France as in US when you start to touch to the nation people become nationalistic.
Of course, for France it's normal as its history goes back for more than 2000 years. What a joke!
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- It's still well known that the "Gaulois" are our ancesters. it may be true for a few people in Britany but that's all. Hopefully it became so obviously false that we stop teaching that about 30 years ago. Any Algerian who had been in school before 1962 also learned the same thing.
- Then our first well known leader was Clovis, a guy who drove the Roman outside of France. Great but he was frankish (Germanic tribes). He was also a roman leader and administrator engaged in a civil war.
- After, we had a great emperor named Charlemagne (Carlus Magnus). The only problems come from the fact that he was born near Liege (Belgium), that his capital was Aachen (Germany), that he ruled over half of Europe and that he was Emperor of the Western Roman Empire (soon to become the Holy Roman Empire).
- Then the first time a slight idea of France came to existence was in 1181AD when the king ruling Westfranken dropped the title "King of Francs" (Rex Francorum) for that of "King of France". (Rex Franciæ).
- Finally, the country as it still is today starts to appear only after the hundred years war (1453AD). Only about 70 years before the first settlers in what is to become the USA and 150 years before the establishment of the 13 colonies.
The last amusing thing is the name "France" which is dirived from the "Francs" (a germanic tribe). Of course, for many frenchmen, Germans are still very foreign to them, so foreign that they remain the Teutons or the Schleus, but that is explained by the 1870 war and by 1914-1918.
If you dig a little more you'll find out that all this is probably also false but that is of course directed toward all Americans on this forum. Can you stop repeating that European countries have a long history (strange how Australians don't seem to be feeling that way). Yours is as long as ours and often longer than that of many European countries inlcuding Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland...
Sorry for that small digression. Nothing about Politics, it's only about History and Philosophy.