Would Americans Support a World Federation?
Posted by TheLTCReddit@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 69 comments
I have heard of the idea and it's in popular American Shows like Star Trek. Would Americans actually support a world federation if it were proposed, or would American Exceptionalism win out enough that the US wouldn't join one?
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ghost-church@reddit
I don’t trust any governmental system that currently exists to rule as a world empire. But if Captain Picard wants to travel back in time and set one up for us I’d be very down.
ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit
I don't see how resistance to this fantasy is "American Exceptionalism." I don't expect most countries would be eager to forgo their national sovereignity.
MoominRex@reddit
No, I can’t imagine most Americans willingly submitting to an authority that would override the Constitution.
_badwithcomputer@reddit
And paying even more taxes and fees to help the rest of the world even more on top of it.
lemonprincess23@reddit
I could see America joining a world federation, only if we were that federation. As in if we were the ultimate say in every decision, policy, and effectively had soft control of all parts of earth that’s the only way I could see America joining up with any sort of global unity group
RsonW@reddit
Yeah, this is the biggest thing that foreigners (and many Americans too, no doubt) do not understand.
Our Constitution explicitly sets Congress as the ultimate legislative authority, the President as the ultimate executive authority, and the Supreme Court as the ultimate judicial authority.
Congress (well, the Senate alone) & the President can sign onto treaties and they are treated as law if they do not override the Supreme Court's ultimate power over judiciary matters.
"Why is America not part of the International Court of Justice???"
Because it is literally against our Constitution.
abrahamguo@reddit
What do you mean by a "World Federation"?
How is that different than the United Nations?
TheLTCReddit@reddit (OP)
It would have enforcement powers, unlike the UN.
Round_Bookkeeper_887@reddit
American isolationism (which is what I think you meant when you said exceptionalism?) is a historical phenomenon and still is an important part of American politics. It was the big reason the United States entered both world wars late. I know for a fact that there are many Americans who would have a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of a UN that could enforce anything on the US. It would be a non-starter for them.
As for everyone else in the US, I really can't say.
HeyPurityItsMeAgain@reddit
Why would anyone let an unelected board of delusional, incompetent bureaucrats enforce laws on them?
Danibear285@reddit
As the entirety of Europe
Danibear285@reddit
Lmaoooooooo
DevelopmentNo2111@reddit
Only if we were at the top.
armpithairexperience@reddit
If trump gets to be king
omnipresent_sailfish@reddit
Obama would be a more effective choice
JimBones31@reddit
🤢
HeyPurityItsMeAgain@reddit
Absolutely not, over my dead fucking body. The UN should be dismantled. Star Trek is a utopian fantasy.
Current_Mongoose_844@reddit
No, but I would support some internationally enforceable laws on things that matter, well..internationally.
machagogo@reddit
No. I have no desire to cede sovereignty over to people who display their disdain for us on a daily basis.
Plus, most of the population of the world's views directly conflict with ours.
Bye bye free speech would be the first thing to go.
Fox_Supremacist@reddit
I would utterly oppose such tyranny as sovereignty is sacred.
deebville00@reddit
I sure as hell wouldn’t.
Outlaw_Josie_Snails@reddit
No thanks.
Grunt08@reddit
The track record of the UN is an excellent example of why I would never want this.
The UN is where dictators demand fair democratic representation for themselves. Where the worst human rights abusers regularly sit on the human rights council. It is singularly obsessed with condemning and controlling the world's only Jewish state while it functionally ignores the abuses of theocracies. Its peacekeepers are world champions of observing human rights abuses and commit a great many themselves.
It is in no way "American exceptionalism" to reject the idea of yielding autonomy and the Constitution to the global median.
Different_Cherry8326@reddit
Exactly. The UN already serves as a forum for and lends legitimacy to the worst authoritarian regimes and human rights abusers. If the UN had actual authority it would be weaponized even further by dictators and religious fanatics.
GOTaSMALL1@reddit
Like FIFA?
NYSenseOfHumor@reddit
No
We don’t even want to be part of the ICC.
GreenBeanTM@reddit
Do you want American’s who have never been to your country to have authority over it? Why would we want people from other countries who have never been here to have authority over us?
We kind of famously went to war with a global superpower on the other side of the world so they wouldn’t have authority over us.
IPreferDiamonds@reddit
No, I wouldn't support it.
riarws@reddit
In Star Trek, each planet has some kind of leadership to represent their interests to the rest of the galaxy. That’s the only scenario I can think of where such a thing would be accepted in the US— dealing with other planetary governments. Which is not likely to happen.
Bright_Ices@reddit
We are not at all alone in preferring to legislate ourselves than to be legislated by laws that override our constitution. We’re bad at it, but national sovereignty is a global issue.
salty_z0mbie@reddit
Americans don't even support an American Federation.
PainterEarly86@reddit
Humanity is not remotely ready for a world government.
amc365@reddit
Fuck no
mostlygray@reddit
Americans would vote against free ice cream for everyone. Americans would vote against free healthcare. Shit, we've done that already. We'd vote against anything that is good.
This is America. We hate all logical support in the name of freedom that we don't have.
But we've got guns so that's sweet. Hell, I'm anti-gun and I have at least 3 guns. I think. I don't really know. I'd have to look in the safe.
America, right or wrong. Raise the colors.
pinniped90@reddit
Would any country support this?
American forces patrolling Beijing, Chinese forces in Chicago?
cavalier78@reddit
Sure, you can all be territories of the United States.
Lugbor@reddit
No, I don't think we would. Other countries telling us what to do is kinda the whole reason we're not part of the UK today.
Ratermelon@reddit
I generally would. The UNSC would need to be abolished and we'd need gigantic redistribution of wealth and resources, so every person currently in a relative position of power would sabotage any such attempts.
It's a good ideal to work towards. I'm open to the idea that competing governments have some benefits, though.
GameTourist@reddit
Hell no. It'd be met with armed resistance for sure. Nothing to do with "American Exceptionalism" and everything to do with the right of self determination and distrust of government.
Idk what you mean by "American Exceptionalism" except maybe as a loaded question. I don't think any other country would either. They would be giving up a lot of power to some central authority made up of people from all over the world who might have interests in common with each other but not with them.
forwardobserver90@reddit
No. America should not be subject to foreign powers. The only “world federation” I would accept is one controlled by the United States.
houinator@reddit
We would need a less terrible UN equivalent first, with some strong safeguards against authoritarian capture.
xxrainmanx@reddit
That's the real problem. The only way to get an world federation is through authoritarian power structures.
_jagwaz@reddit
No I don’t even like being in the same country as Alabama
Dave_A480@reddit
Only if everything it did was subject to a US veto.....
CycadelicSparkles@reddit
My concerns would be not at all related to "American exceptionalism". My concerns would be about remembering that different cultures may have different needs and that certain frameworks may not work for everyone.
I think you only get a workable, equitable world government in a situation like Star Trek where we've solved all of the major societal issues and things like poverty, disease, prejudice, and social inequality are no longer things that exist. That's literally why the federation (mostly) works, and even then you see various groups becoming disgruntled or feeling poorly treated or disrespected. That sort of balance and unity is extremely difficult to maintain.
Gator222222@reddit
Would Russia or China agree to this? I think getting people in Kazakhstan to agree to do things that would benefit people in Iceland at their expense would be a difficult thing to sell. The world is tribal. It always has been. It's a nice thought experiment to think of a united world that works together to solve problems. Then you have the reality of it. Problems are hard to solve.
dr_stre@reddit
What the people want or don’t want wouldn’t matter. The leaders would not accept it if the IS wasn’t essentially the head honcho anyway with full veto powers.
Outrageous-Pin-4664@reddit
It's a bad idea.
I suspect the authoritarians outnumber the rest of us. We don't want to present them with one neck to fit a noose around.
law_dweeb@reddit
Only the wrestling kind
caffiend98@reddit
The US still hasn't joined the international criminal court for fear it'll get used to charge them with war crimes.
No one really appreciates how abnormal the post-WWII period was in terms of US international behavior. It's an isolationist, narcissistic, commercial nation; that period of principled internationalism only happened because two generation of US soldiers went through the horrors of WWI and WWII... but they didn't manage to pass that wisdom on to their children.
America won't join anything it doesn't have a veto over and won't profit from.
Impossible_Memory_85@reddit
Nope too many people can’t get past the whole part that a countries control in a federation isn’t proportionate to the amount of money and resources they invest. I.e if we are funding 60% of the Federation then we should get 60% of the votes. The same reason the UN is a joke when it comes to anything the top powers don’t like.
Into-Imagination@reddit
A majority of Americans would not support it.
Why do I say that?
Because today, many Americans don’t support much smaller things like Puerto Rico becoming a state.
If a majority of Americans don’t agree that a territory like PR should be a state with the rights and responsibilities therein, I don’t see a majority of Americans agreeing to something much broader.
Not that I agree or disagree - I’m just noting a stated reality.
TessOfLesJoueurs@reddit
When aliens start showing their faces in public, yeah, maybe. Just for the hell of it? Nah, too much oil to steal.
Specific-Data-4104@reddit
I’m pretty sure we only accept such a thing if it’s more of a we rule the entire thing and all places act like and agree with America. So if it’s American exceptionalism for the world? Yeah!
zealous_ideals790034@reddit
It’s not really about ‘exceptionalism’; it’s about sovereignty.
It wouldn’t work for the same reason the European Union doesn’t have absolute authority over member states: sovereign states are rarely willing to surrender ultimate control over their own governance.
mwhite5990@reddit
I don’t know if the general public would get on board, but I wouldn’t mind if there was more enforcement of international law and protection of human rights.
ExplanationNo8603@reddit
No, it wouldn't be in are best interest.
bkmerrim@reddit
The only way I’m supporting the Earth Sphere Unified Nation is if we finally put some colonies at various Lagrange Points and build giant robots out of Gundanium. Otherwise it’s a wash.
trs21219@reddit
Absolutely not. We don't need more government.
Sans_Seriphim@reddit
Given how we have treated the rest of the world, that would be suicidal.
MrLongWalk@reddit
I love how every foreign poster has a different definition of American Exceptionalism
sociapathictendences@reddit
No way would Americans join a world federation.
We have dramatically more influence over world events now than we would in a federation.
And Americans are generally pretty wary of immigration as it stands. Inviting the world to live here would be unpopular.
ThePickleConnoisseur@reddit
The country can’t get along. Not make every country into one. So many are already diametrically opposed to each other culturally and religiously
TaekDePlej@reddit
Would Americans support it? Yeah, some of us. Would we join it? That depends on what our sociopolitical oligarch class wants to do, and recently they’ve been feeling pretty isolationist
SendTittiesThx@reddit
Americans can’t agree on supporting anything at all
Icouldusesomerock@reddit
The world federation is enriching uranium and we must act immediately
DResq@reddit
Maybe you should explain what a "world federation" is. Just sounds like the UN to me.
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