by Jack Le Moine
From the latest happenings in things historical. This article Ted Cruz Called a Harvard Chair’s Views on the Paris Withdrawal ‘Sad.’ She Fired Back. was published 8 days ago in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The article’s author is J. Clara Chan.
So, did the United States of America only begin as a country when the Paris Peace Treaty of 1783 ended the Revolutionary War? — Not July 4, 1776 and the Declaration of Independence?
The basic problem is the socialist idea that the government should own everything. From that premise it is just a hop, skip, and jump to the idea that governments also own whole countries. Indeed, that countries are creations of governments. The Harvard Professor cited in this article simply takes this line of thought to the logical conclusion. Even the fact of a country’s government establishing a country is not good enough. The rest of the governments in the world must recognize the establishment of the country; only then does the country come into being.
The professor’s statement is only the logical conclusion of the concept of government being the creator and owner of its country.
As socialism becomes ever more popular in America, Great Britain, and other countries, the prevelance of this kind of thinking goes ever more popular, too.
The other view, is that countrys create governments. Countries need a governmental sector, just as they need a business sector, a cultural sector, and so on. A person’s body needs a heart; a country’s body needs a government.
History seems to favor Ted Cruz’s side of this arguement.
One famous example is the Biblical account of the origin of the Jewish people. In earlier days, needs that were filled by government were filled on ad-hoc basis by assorted prophets, judges, and others. Finally the Jewish people demanded a more formal government, which for those times meant a monarchy. First Saul was King, then David. But the Jewish people existed centuries before that. They did not have a government; they did not even have a homeland but they were clearly a country.
Many more examples exist. At what point did ancient Egypt begin? — Or ancient China?
Back to Ted Cruz. Love him or hate him, he does come up with some zingers.
Treaty of Paris simply memorialized that fact, of our total victory at Yorktown. Her claim is like saying a plastic globe created the earth.
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