America is no longer a "nation"

November 4, 2004 by Tomoyuki Hoshino
Translated by Maiko Shiota

Bush’s re-election has been decided in the American presidential race. Unless by some accident Bush’s personality and groupies are completely transformed, a Dark Age will begin. I didn’t think I would ever experience such an age during my lifetime. When will we escape from it?

My response to this election is the strange sense that, of course, “America is ending.”

The UN holds the nation-state as a premise. The UN exists to restrict one nation’s rights within that nation. This means that nations gather to hold an assembly and decide on a countermeasure resolution right away if any power attempts to exceed its bounds. Therefore, if there are instances when actions transcend given rights and national boundaries, such as if Iraq was to invade Kuwait, then such actions are penalized by a UN resolution. As long as it is taken as a premise that all types of nations and peoples only have rights within a specific nation, only the UN can give out such penalties. Aside from various notable exceptions (especially the problem in Palestine) and the odd balance of power leftover from the Cold War structure, I think that as far as the latter half of the 20th century is concerned, that concept has been respected.

However, proudly waving around self-justifying theories, the Bush administration has openly done what, until now, American political powers have been doing stealthily due to their guilty conscience. The administration has boldly exercised powers in other countries that cannot be exercised anywhere outside America despite the fact that the UN did not approve of any such actions. Essentially, the actions of America should have been subjected to punishments by the UN.

But, sanctions did not happen. Therefore, America can exercise powers transcending a nation’s rights without inhibition. I had felt that the institution of the nation itself holds a great evil and limitation and that its coming apart at the seams is becoming increasingly apparent, but that in the current situation we would have to keep going within this system for a while. However, by breaking the premise of the nation-state system in which authority should only have rights within that nation, the Bush administration has nullified the nation-state system. As a result, the UN holding the nation-state as a premise can no longer have meaning, and at the same time, the reason for America’s existence, democracy, is losing its very foundation and is on the verge of collapse.

My American friend today, at this time of the elections, told me about how the Republican party was using Mafia-like extortion and threats against mainly rural African American and Hispanic citizens. For example, according to a notice circulated in one Southern community with a substantial African American population, “Due to an anticipated increase in voter turnout, the election will take place over two days. Republicans will vote on Tuesday, and Democrats will vote on Wednesday” (the real election day was Tuesday). In one city in Arizona with a large Hispanic population, my friend’s friend went to the poll to serve as an election monitor and apparently witnessed armed Republicans threatening voters entering the polls, presumably to challenge their citizenship status. The police apparently did not stop such criminal harassment. There were even notifications released saying, “Those who have not paid their income taxes, those who voted in the primaries, and those with incarcerated children will be subject to a seven-year prison sentence if they vote on November 2nd.” My friend related that there have been many cases of immigrants, who are less acquainted with their rights as American citizens, being targeted in this way, and those who are constantly in fear of their rights often do not protest and end up acquiescing.

My friend is outraged that examples like this are never-ending and that this is no longer a democracy. America has become far too conservative and does not think about anything besides maintaining its own interests, about half the nation thinks that it is permissible to export authority that goes against nation-state principles to other nations, and if, while supporting Bush on the one hand, actions reminiscent of elections in pre-1980’s Latin American are being done openly, it can only be said that the systems of nation-states and democracy are crumbling at their base.

I have no professional knowledge on politics or on America, but when I try to put into words my strong sense of incongruity and fear, I think of things such as this: America is no longer a “nation.” In a place where the world exists as a gathering of nation-states and people live within that, when something that is not a nation-state appears, “the universal” collapses. It changes into a place where anything can happen, where fear governs. The order enforced by the word “Law” is unable to hold, due to an endless repetition of self-justifications. Words will no longer be understood.