Taiwan and Tangents

Feeling extremely out of contact with the current state of affairs of the world at large recently I spent a little time this evening perusing CNN, WSJ, FOXnews, and MSNBC. Once I had riffled through all the headlines bringing me up to date on the Jacko trial and Clinton’s soon to come surgery I found that the biggest commonality amidst all the outlets to be a growing concern over Taiwan/China relations. It seems that the Chinese have introduced a bill authorizing the use of military force in the event that Taiwan takes steps to formally declare their independence. The United States has come down firmly on the Taiwanese side of the matter, defending the Island Nation’s right to succession. I find myself at a crossroads when it comes to the matter and a number of intrinsic questions seem to arise. First of all, is it hypocritical of the US to support Taiwanese succession when this country itself is firmly set against the idea? Before I take this off into tangentville, I would also like to note that some people believe China to be THE military and economic force in the world today, and the US is merely still playing out the role because there hasn’t been a major conflict to re-establish the international pecking order. What would happen if conflict between Taiwan and mainland China broke out? Would the US fulfill its obligations to Taiwan? Could the US fulfill its obligations to Taiwan? I would really like to see what you think, I’ll just say, I don’t know.

As far as the question of secession goes, I’ll go ahead and state very clearly that I am a conservative idealist. I, for one, do support any place’s right to secession in the event that it determines the country is no longer satiating its needs and right to life and liberty. I think that all other internal avenues must first be exhausted, but sometimes it does become necessary to secede. That is, after all, what the American Revolution was, nothing less than secession from the British Empire. The American Civil War, as a counter example, conjures questions about the ability to follow though with internal diplomacy, but one thing to come out of the Civil War that I firmly disagree with is the abolition of the States’ right to secede. I wonder if the US is missing out on its historical grandeur by forsaking the concept of federalism and moving closer and closer to an actualization of a single Nation/State, divided into 50 counties, which simply retain the historical nomenclature of the entities they once were. Now, I by no means mean to appear reactionary, I would simply like some consideration for our current situation. Is America still the United States, or do we need to recognize how drastic of a change has been effected in that dynamic?