From Many, One

On this day:
1264
Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England
1607
Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
1787
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States; George Washington presides.
1796
Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.
1804
The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begins its historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
1948
Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

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“Maybe children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. --trump
If this sounds like moralistically rallying the starving troops, it should;
the classic socialist response to shortages of their own device.

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Research-intensive pharmaceutical companies have also warned that low prices paid by European health systems are driving new drug discovery efforts to the US and China.

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From Many, One

Edan Alexander was released by Hamas, a year and a half after being kidnapped. He is a man with dual citizenship, American and Israeli.

Dual citizenship is a curiosity. Who--or what--is his kidnapping aimed at? Who negotiates? Importantly, who retaliates? And is there something bigger here?

The essential problem is, what does citizenship mean? Is it geographic? Just an opportunity for a low-profile passport? A statement of solidarity with family history? Does it carry any obligation, like taxation or military service?

Is there a country identity? Could there be an inconsistency between the countries you have joined? Could you have citizenship in the U.S. and in Russia? America and Iran? Are the philosophies of some different countries innocuous, or are others incompatible?

Citizenship defines both the citizen and the state. There is an element of Lavoisier in France, of the U.S. in the Rosenbergs. In a serious country, citizenship is more than a colorful luggage sticker, it is a declaration, a statement of principle. Some are historic. An Italian declares for an ancient people with a history of evangelical law and a sacred, genius artistic vision. The British declare for struggling, tortured individualism torn from aristocratic hierarchy and mercantilism. The Russians, a grim materialistic autocracy salted with astonishing literary protest. Some, like Germany and the religious states, are autocratic, nationalistic, and bigoted. Others are ill-defined or intensely parochial. 

But all nations and their citizens are amalgams, alloys, each taking and giving, one to the other. America 250 years ago initiated a New Age, an age of dignity--and responsibility--of the individual. Each citizen is part of that astonishing, revolutionary vision. It is hard to understand how such a concept could be diluted by dual citizenship, or why anyone would suggest it.

Can you imagine men or women of the Revolution requesting dual citizenship with Great Britain after the war?