EDIT: Downvotes? Come on. Especially today, especially in our world of modern technology, physical location is less important than ever before. Where's the sci-fi novel where they abolished countries after they found out we all live on a tiny planet orbiting one of a billion stars?
IIRC Singapore and a bunch of other high tech SE Asian countries essentially did the same thing. Anybody with a high tech qualification, eg a CS degree, could live and work in any of the club no questions asked.
France is pretty nationalistic too, no? They're one of the harshest countries in Europe in terms of minority languages, if I recall correctly.
There was a huge effort to create a single nation, similar to the unification of Germany and Italy around the same time.
Their attitude to the language rather shows that - nobody in England thinks English needs 'protecting'.
It shows in their proliferation patterns too.
Other languages borrow foreign words - English lures them into dark alleys and goes through their pockets for any grammer they might have.
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle [sic] their pockets for new vocabulary.
The USA is basically the same idea as the EU, it is just supposed to be the international face of our amalgamation of nearby states that have formed an alliance for their mutual protection and simplification. The real laws (i.e. not treaties or other international matters) are supposed to be implemented at the state level or lower.
I'm not historian but I suppose throughout history the space that we call home became bigger and bigger as time went by. Perhaps first it was a cave, at some point it was a village, then it was a city and eventually it was a country.
I guess what I mean is that eventually countries will go away. And calling them "old-school" was assuming we were there yet. But maybe we are not yet. But surely you would agree one day this day will come?
If countries "go away", what do you suggest they would be replaced by?
Perhaps after that it will be planets (if you like Futurama), or religions, philosophies or even brands. :) Who knows.
> different cultures have different values and often don't want to live under the same set of laws.
different regions of america have different cultures and values, and yet you wouldn't question the status of the us.
> If you're oppressed under one countries set of laws at least you always have the option of leaving.
actually, no. it is precisely because of this offensive notion of citizenship that people are NOT free to leave the country they find themselves in.
50 years ago it was difficult to be a city-state, Monaco couldn't have it's own currency, army , foreign embassies.
Now it would be much easier for eg. Scotland/ Bavaria/ Flemish-Belgium to become a country again - they would have a euroepean central bank/currency/etc but could handle everything else locally instead of in a capital city 100mi away that is only the same 'country' because of a battle 500years ago.