As Senator, President Barack Obama made one of his most memorable speeches in July 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/us/politics/24text-obama.html In this speech titled, "A World That Stands As One," President Obama States:
"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."
Imam Zaid Shakir examines this topic further in his essay "Islam and the Question of Nationalism," which is published as part of the an anthology of essays titled,
Scattered Pictures: Reflections of An American Muslim. The Imam writes:
The universality of God's message counters the idea that the division of humans into their respective nations, tribes, cultural and ethnic identity groups, possessors of distinct historical missions, or any other groupings should constitute the basis for the creation of destructive, mutually exclusive, and potentially belligerent agendas. It also rejects the idea of these distinctions being the basis for any claims of superiority, God reminds us that these differences are rooted in the accident of birth. They exist as a means for our mutual of the creative power of God and as a means for us to come to know and appreciate each other. Any claim of superiority can only be based on superior devotion and ethics, bases which transcend the accident of birth.
Humanity will not be able to move towards a harmonious state where the actualization of true human unity and our collective security are realities if we do not move beyond the nation-state. Improved means of communication and transportation continue to 'shrink' the world. Continuous improvements in weapons technology, conventional and non-conventional, greatly enhance the efficacy of our ability to kill each other. Global problems such as AIDS, SARS< pollution, and increasingly disastrous economic inequalities, defy unilateral solutions. In light of these and many other pressing facts, we can no longer accept a scheme where, in the words of William Pfaff, "…a nation conceives itself licensed to validate itself by the victimization of another society." Mutual victimization, an unfortunate result of conflicting national interests, creates conditions that could very well lead to our mutual destruction.
That said, nationalism is a reality that lies at the heart of contemporary global order. Therefore transcending it will require more than a mere understanding of its inherent dangers. New ways of thinking about the meaning of life, humanity, and human civilization will have to be developed, and new institutions will have to be constructed. Many daunting problems related to the meaning of national sovereignty, self determination, and citizenship will have to be resolved.
[1] Shakir, Zaid: Scattered Pictures: Reflections of An American Muslim, (pages 58-59), Zaytuna Institute 2005:
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