Nation isn't State, and Why Another Civil War Is Unavoidable

This is something that has been hard for me to grasp, because of the decades of intentional conflation of these two.

Let's start by contrasting their etymology.

nation (n.)

c. 1300, nacioun, "a race of people, large group of people with common ancestry and language," from Old French nacion "birth, rank; descendants, relatives; country, homeland" (12c.) and directly from Latin nationem (nominative natio) "birth, origin; breed, stock, kind, species; race of people, tribe," literally "that which has been born," from natus, past participle of nasci "be born" (Old Latin gnasci), from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups. - from https://www.etymonline.com/word/nation

state (n.2)

"political organization of a country, supreme civil power, government," c. 1300, from special use of state (n.1); this sense grew out of the meaning "condition of a country" with regard to government, prosperity, etc. (late 13c.), from Latin phrases such as status rei publicæ "condition (or existence) of the republic." - from https://www.etymonline.com/word/state

Can you see how the two are treated interchangeably in the modern United States of America?

It may help to play with the terms a bit more.

Before the state of historic Israel was founded by the return of the Hebrews to the "promised land", there still existed a nation that was chosen by God, even if they did not have a state of their own because they were dispossessed and enslaved in Egypt.

Similarly, the nation of Hebrews was not really disturbed when the Kingdom of Israel split into the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Again, the nation was not disturbed when they were conquered by Babylon, though the state certainly was.

The nation and the state are two different things, and are not interchangeable. One of them relates to literal blood relation and connection, the other to political structure and governance, and so while a nation may have a state of their own, a state does not ever define a nation, because a state can be formed without the requirements for a nation.

Thus, the modern United States of America is a state, and not a nation. Civic Nationalism is trying to turn the state into a nation, to bind together various nations into a new nation, without any of the actual "stuff" that makes up a nation.

The original United States of America was a nation, comprised of British pioneers and explorers. They were not immigrants, and to use the same source as above to provide a definition, you will see that immigration has specific requirements which the British founders of the United States do not meet.

immigrate (v.)

"to pass into a place as a new inhabitant or resident," especially "to move to a country where one is not a native, for the purpose of settling permanently there," 1620s, from Latin immigratus, past participle of immigrare "to remove, go into, move in," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + migrare "to move" (see migration). Related: Immigrated; immigrating. - from https://www.etymonline.com/word/immigrate

The British colonists did not "move to a country", they conquered and pushed out an existing peoples and created their own country. The British did not immigrate to another country, they moved to a largely empty continent and set up their own shop. If that is immigration, then immigration is synonymous with invasion. Immigration is synonymous with seeking to defeat an enemy in warfare.

It is in that connotation that immigration, legal or illegal, is a significant problem for any nation which wants to retain control over the state.

The only way that immigration does not undermine a nation is if people who are part of the same nation, but had belonged to a different state, immigrate to another state which is dominated by the nation they already belong to. This is what people who claim that the United States has always been a "nation of immigrants" hope to pull a misdirection on, because while there has been a change in the state, the nation didn't really change at all.

Until the 1960's, legal immigration to the United States was restricted to existing states that all belonged to the same nation.

If that sentence doesn't make plain sense to you, re-read everything that came before it, and try again.

Put differently, until the late 1800's, immigration to the United States was restricted to white Europeans. Citizenship was offered to former slaves after the American Civil War, and in the 1940s citizenship was offered to limited numbers of Chinese, and by the mid 1950s race was formally removed as grounds for exclusion on immigration.

Even so, citizenship of the state is not membership in the nation.

Really think about that.

Immigration to the United States was formally based on race, until the McCarran-Walter Act, which "abolished racial restrictions found in United States immigration and naturalization statutes going back to the Naturalization Act of 1790."

https://infogalactic.com/info/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1952

And, since this is a new term in this context, what is race?

race (n.2)

"people of common descent," a word from the 16th century, from Middle French race, earlier razza "race, breed, lineage, family" (16c.), possibly from Italian razza, of unknown origin (cognate with Spanish and Portuguese raza). Etymologists say no connection with Latin radix "root," though they admit this might have influenced the "tribe, nation" sense. - from https://www.etymonline.com/word/race

Race is connected to, if not synonymous with, nation in a way that state is clearly not.

So, in the 1950's, the United States of America decided that loyalty to the state was sufficient to replace bonds of blood, that the state could create a nation through loyalty to laws, and that this nation would replace the former, if not lead the United States of America into even higher heights.

This is the heart of Civic Nationalism, the idea that the state can create a bond between nations that can replace the former bonds of blood, language, or God.

This is why the United States is unavoidably headed towards another Civil War, because control over the state is now up in the air, as the original nation which used to be dominant now has significant competition, and the other nations that have colonized the continent have their own thoughts about how the state should be run.

In the same way that historical Israel was overrun by Babylon, and then Rome, so the United States was overrun by foreign nations, exploiting the ignorance of the tangible difference between nation and state, betraying the founding fathers' intent and wish for the state to always be under the control and influence of their posterity, their nation, their race.

If you want to restore the state to the control of the nation that created it, you could kick out the all the other ones, but to do that, you'll need to remove people from their homes with guns, and that will incite violent conflict.

If you want to restore the state to the control of the nation that created it, you need to remove all the political control and influence all the other nations have, and that will require changing laws and enforcing them with guns, and that will incite violent conflict.

"War is a mere continuation of policy by other means." - Clausewitz

Every path forward to restore the state to the nation will involve conflict with the other nations that have set themselves up inside the jurisdiction of the state. Even trying to break apart the nation, an amicable divorce between the various nations and giving them their own states, will also result in violent conflict, because these various nations are geographically dispersed.

The United States started out as a British colony, and in 1790 immigration and citizenship was explicitly restricted based on race.

https://infogalactic.com/info/Naturalization_Act_of_1790

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof, on application to any common law court of record, in any one of the states wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such court, that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to 'support the constitution of the United States, which oath or affirmation such court shall administer; and the clerk of such court shall record such application, and the pro-ceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a citizen of the United States.

The Naturalization Act of 1790 was repealed and replaced a number of times, but in each case what changed was the time requirements, making them more and more onerous and restrictive. People who were already a part of the same nation, but were not yet members of the state, could become so after a time and demonstrating their value to the state. At no point was nationality changing at all in any of this, however.

Thus, this was never a "nation of immigrants", but has certainly become a "state of immigrants", and the political experiment of Civic Nationalism has proven once again that "blood is thicker than water", in part because Civic Nationalism denies that Identity > Culture > Politics.

Nation, race, ancestry, are a huge part of identity. It it not chosen, changed, revised, it is what it is and is not subject to editing, any more than height or biological sex.

But that doesn't mean people aren't trying. Or haven't tried, since the beginning, to usurp the order that God set in place.

There's a reason why Nationalism and Christianity are such contentious topics these days, because they are connected to each other, and ultimately to truth, and the prince of this world, the great manipulator and deceiver, absolutely hates truth.

The United States of America is a state without a dominant nation, and conflicts will only grow more frequent, and the nature of the conflicts escalate further and further, until there is again a single nation that the state has jurisdiction over.

It has happened many times before, and this next round won't be the last either.

The next Civil War is inevitable, and the sooner you realize this and prepare yourself for what is to come, the better the chance your nation will survive the culling.