Earth Citizens

In the long run, nationalism is a flash in the pan. People didn't even use passports until less than 100 years ago, and "globalism" (theirs, not ours) is restoring mobility of capital, goods, and even labor (in spite of an occasional populist backlash). The Empire wants provinces, not nations, especially since in the 20th century those pesky social democrats had some success in using nationalist feeling to get commie ideas like UK's National Health Service or the US's Social Security adopted. Not to mention labor unions, minimum wages, and the 40-hour week.

So nationalism is a two-edged sword. Much of the political difficulty of the left is that the constituencies for which they have been the champions are in the process of making a transition from "(mild) socialism in one country" to internationalism. This is easier for the ruling classes, since rulers have more in common with each other than different cultures do, especially cultures with very different levels of typical wealth. What is needed is a soft landing for this transition, which is why so much current leftist activity is in the intercultural NGOs that are prototypes of world cultural institutions. And in the art/music/film/poems/stories that already are world cultural institutions.

Internationalism will not prevail until it becomes clear that neither nationalism nor imperialism can deliver the goods. The tribal wiring that makes us vulnerable to us-vs-them rhetoric, especially in hard times, will no doubt still win many battles. But these are Phyrric victories -- Bush is leaving the American Empire much weaker than Clinton handed it over, the WTO is shifting from being the US's enforcer to a nascent (very flawed) world government, and US anti-gay laws have gone from being unquestioned to being an embarrassment.

My hope is that creeping multiculturalism (and the rationalism it nurtures) will evade all attempts to hold back the tide. I'll poke a few holes in the dikes where I can. But we should also be looking ahead to the emerging challenges, since many of us may live to see the day when being American is about as relevant as being Texan. Europe is already well down that path.