Sovereignty

So, Iraq is now, once again, a Sovereign State.
(Two days ahead of schedule, a brilliant move, vis-a-vis the big target that the original date represented. Funny how the hicks from Crawford and their bumpkin leader keep pulling rabbits out of the hat...)

I am not interested in the many stories that have emerged regarding how non-sovereign nature of the current situation. This was a symbolic act, by diplomats, for diplomats. (Diplomats being the lowest form of Politician, they don't even PRETEND they have an electoral mandate...)

The proof will be in a pudding that will be years in the making.

(I do think it interesting to read some of the nay-sayer's arguments. Undue influence? Is South Korea a Sovereign State? We still maintain a HUGE military presence. Is Germany? Think there is no comparison between Iraq and Germany post WW2? You obviously haven't heard about the Weresolves. The difference is the press back then didn't blow the attacks out of proportion.)

What REALLY interests me is this whole concept of Sovereignty.

The noun "sovereignty" has 2 senses in WordNet.

1. sovereignty -- (government free from external control)
2. reign, sovereignty -- (royal authority; the dominion of a monarch)

Hmmm, No. 1 is obviously what this is about on face value. It is the external control thing that people are debating.

Now, No. 2 is where it gets interesting. The very root of the word. The Sovereign. The Royal Monarch ordained by the Official State Church, symbolizing the Divine Right to rule. You did know that's what State-sponsored religion was all about, right? The Monarch NEEDS the Church. Likewise, the Church enjoys the largesse of the Royals. And so it progresses, down through the ages, the Royal succession, ordained by God Almighty, until very recent times historically speaking.

Then a bunch of wild-eyed radicals DARED to finally fully implement what some others had been talking around for years.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Now THAT is Sovereignty.
Yours, Mine, EVERYONE'S...

But with it, comes RESPONSIBILITY...

Ah! There's the rub!