Sovereignty also sovranty … 1 a. supreme power esp. over a body politic, b. freedom from external control: AUTONOMY, c. controlling influence 2 one that is sovereign; esp: an autonomous state
Political commentator and humorist Bill Maher last week kicked off a new season of his “Real Time” on HBO and asked, in a rather snarky manner, what’s all this “sovereign nation stuff?”
Among some folks, it seems that talking about U.S. sovereignty – holding it up as a guiding principle – somehow has negative implications.
Basically, as a sovereign entity – an autonomous state – the United States determines the path to follow that is in the best interests of the nation. This isn’t some newfangled phenomenon. Hundreds of years of history, political strife and wars preceded the establishment of nation states. Additionally, as a sovereign country and a democracy, that means the voting citizens (theoretically) determine the path. In other words, the people rule. On the face of it, none of that seems like anything to get all snarky about. More pointedly, it’s not something to try to manipulate and redefine as something it’s not.