eli5: Since the U.S is described as ”a union between 50 free states” and gets more compared with the structure of the EU than, say, the counties of England; how come Texas or Oklahoma doesn’t compete independently in the olympics, or have independent representation in the UN? A union isn’t a nation

Question

eli5: Since the U.S is described as ”a union between 50 free states” and gets more compared with the structure of the EU than, say, the counties of England; how come Texas or Oklahoma doesn’t compete independently in the olympics, or have independent representation in the UN? A union isn’t a nation

In: 2

Answer 1

You’re getting hung up on wording here. The United states is one country. Just one. The 50 states are no sovereign, independent states. They are part of the United States. It’s really not at all like the EU and no one says that so I’m not sure why you think that. The states are not free, they’re all part of one single country.

States don’t have their own Olympic teams or UN representation for the same reason that Ontario in Canada, or Bavaria in Germany, or Queensland in Australia don’t. Those are all states or provinces in a federal country. Federalism doesn’t make them independent.