(First draft – 4/28/05 – RH, CW/PS) 

Sense of the U.S. Congress Resolution

Reapportioning Sovereignty:
FOR WORLD PEACE UNDER LAW

   The myth of indivisible state sovereignty has been laid to rest in the more than two centuries since the founding of the federal United States system in 1787.

   At that time, under the Articles of Confederation, the 13 sovereign states were chaotic, their relations hostile and sometimes violent, their separate currencies unstable (“not worth a continental”), and their societies riven by profound schisms. But under a near miraculous effort of the American Founding Fathers, a federal system was created under which, with maximum freedom retained for individuals, other arrangements were permitted at various levels (city, county, state, national) as dictated by common interests. (Example: traffic lights at busy intersections.)

   The time in human history has come – with the globe having shrunken hugely in a few short centuries in real-time terms – for the inhabitants of our planet to move to a higher level of social organization in order to achieve safer, healthier, more fulfilling lives. Humanity has been moving in fits and starts in this direction since the end of World War II, although in recent decades the trend toward catastrophe has seemed to be increasing.

   The world has developed an organization – the United Nations – that is only a shell of what is needed. But it is a start. At least it is virtually universal in membership – now with 191 members – and has proclaimed noble goals, most importantly in the first sentence of the U.N. Charter, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

   To achieve the aspirations of its Charter, the U.N. will have to muster the support of not only its member governments, but also all manner of other groups, including NGOs, businesses, academics, religious, fraternal, and media groups – not to mention the general public. And out of this mix must emerge specific, practical ideas that can gain political backing leading to implementation in the U.N. system.

   It is eminently logical for the United States of America, with its creative and peaceful history of federalism, to take the lead in this effort. It is deeply tragic that America is now shirking this opportunity. Every American can help, one way or another, to turn this country toward a world of peace under law.