When I was a student in high school during World War II I learned about the United States government and the “federalism” it embraced.  It seemed to be a good idea.  The Civil War was fought a hundred years earlier to bring back “states” that had seceded. The South could be different but it had to accept the notion that being different didn’t mandate that you go to war about it.  It isn’t that simple, of course.

But federalism at the end of World War II was tried after several states had seceded from the world and had to be brought back into the fold. There was Nazi Germany subduing the nations of central Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa and way east into Russia.  Then there was Italy, the weaker partner of the “Axis” that had made incursions into Africa.  Japan was the third State that seceded from the world and took control over vast numbers of peoples in Asia and waged war against the United States. The U.S. now led the fight to bring all three wanderers back into the union. 

The union was a weak one given to making grandiose declarations about what it was all about. The government that was patched together was like America under the Articles of Confederation before the Constitution of 1789 was adopted.  The United Nations Charter was cobbled together but has never worked as a government of all the nations of the world. Many nations are uneasy in giving up sovereignty to a weak and ill-defined world charter.  There are many aggressions going on right at this moment by peoples who do not want to be part of artificial nations created after wars. The very fact that the United Nations headquarters is in New York City makes many nations feel they are coming hat in hand to the Capitol of the world where they will be told what Americans want them to do and how to be just like Americans.

This does not play well in the streets of unhappy countries. The poor there have nothing to lose. Their discontent is not necessarily with the central government, but they want their singularity recognized and given a voice in that central government.  This is “federalism” that a great many people would welcome.  But, because of the complexity that history has brought with it, there are many others who would want the same privilege of autonomy within a larger federal state or have things remain in chaos.

A case in point is the Assyrians of Iraq.  I found that they are still with us when doing research for a book about “Nebuchadnezzar’s Pillar”. We know about the Kurds because Iraq’s madman, Saddam Hussein, made war on them with poison gas. Then, too, there are the Shiites and Sunnis who also share that country’s space.  Federalism in Iraq (and this is serious discussion since the United States under the present administration WILL go to war with Iraq) is being considered (see the NY Times today). Federalism for the world will have to wait until small civil rebellions around the world are ended.