cuts through the verbiage to the heart of the issue .

Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
All goes back to Robert Fulghum; be careful what you want, you may get it. Seems to me that defining two things; (a) the National Interest; and (b) as Marc said "The point I am trying to make is that the ideology / symbology - what we stand for - must transcend any individual national interest." is the first step and that it is a quite difficult if not impossible step. Still, if one succeeds in doing that, then one must reconcile the two -- even more difficult.
Absolutely. Actually, I think that such an ideology / symbology is rather simple to build since most of the base ideas are already floating around in various forms. As I see it, it can be structured around the basic idea of a convention between sovereign entities (BTW, not limited to nation states) along the loose confederate lines Rob mentioned at a global level. As long as it also includes guarantees of internal sovereignty within minimal agreed upon limits, including the right of departure, it should work. Of course, negotiating those limits and the conventions would be a freakin' nightmare .