Federalist questions
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Tue, 02 Jul 2019 17:16:05 +0000
Part 1
JANUARY 18, 1871 Germany transformed into a nation state when 39 states (except Austria and Switzerland) unified into the Prussian dominated German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France. These were German speaking states in Central Europe.
The United States of America was founded in July 4, 1776 when former British colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. The 13 American colonies (Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, etc.) reacting to the discontent in 1773 over the Tea Act by England, elected respective delegates to the first constituted Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. From this date to 1776 the discourse on independence was central and how the colonies would govern themselves? On several occasions, chiefs and leaders of the Indian Iroquois Confederation (of 5 nations) were invited to “illustrate the power of unity”. The example used was of one arrow held up and how easily it would break, in comparison to 5 arrows bound together that could not break. American ‘Founding Fathers’ decided on adopting the eagle as symbol (similar the Iroquois) but clutching 13 arrows on its talons as symbol of unity of the original colonies, and to ensure peace at home and to defend against foreign enemies. They wrote in the preamble of the US Constitution “…in order to form a more perfect union”. Out of this union emerged a unified whole, thus the motto, “E pluribus unum” (“Out of many one”). Australia, Malaysia etc. have commonalities in their seminal foundations, as Germany and US, in forming federal states, establishing such government.
The golden rule in determining the bedrock, of a dependable and stable form of governance for a people is, “Institutions should reflect and must follow history. Not vice versa. To do otherwise is to delve into the peril of political experiment, relying on scholastic intellectualism, passing convenience, transient political populism, disfiguring what must be, settled national consensus referenced from unique historical and geographical determinism forming national identity, definite territory, and a strong constitution.