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From: plh@ukma.UUCP (Paul L. Hightower)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Self-Determination
Message-ID: <1590@ukma.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 9-Apr-85 11:02:40 EST
Article-I.D.: ukma.1590
Posted: Tue Apr  9 11:02:40 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 10-Apr-85 23:35:22 EST
Organization: Univ. of KY Mathematical Sciences
Lines: 22

The principal of national rights of self-determination bears careful 
thought.  In the War of the Southern Secession (1860-1865), the United
States forcibly suppressed the will of the majority in the 11 states
of the Confederacy.  Slavery was an important, but secondary issue;
Abraham Lincoln would certainly not have tolerated the secession even
if the Confederacy had abolished slavery.  And the farmboys of Kentucky,
Indiana and Illinois would certainly not have joined a crusade against
slavery; they fought for the "preservation of the Union."

Question #1: Should the South have been allowed to secede?

Question #2: Are Empires and Unions of non-homogenous groups desirable?

Question #3: Should every group that identifies itself as "different"
	     be allowed to go its own way?

Question #4: What's the solution for places like Lebanon, Crete, and
	     Northern Ireland in which better than 1/3 the population
	     violently objects to majority rule?

Paul Hightower
University of Kentucky