https://www.lewrockwell.com/2026/01/ryan-mcmaken/we-can-have-unity-or-we-can-have-freedom-we-cant-have-both/

We Can Have Unity or We Can Have Freedom. We Can’t Have Both.
By Ryan McMaken
Mises.org

The idea of political unity has long been a popular trope and slogan in politics. “He’s a uniter, not a divider” is a sentiment that many American politicians like to cultivate about themselves. Over many centuries and across many jurisdictions we encounter the claim that unity is a political virtue, and that anything that “divides us” must therefore be condemned. Some even label opposition to unity as a type of treason.

So, it makes sense that political unity is often the language employed by those who seek to enhance and increase the power of the state. Since the advent of nationalism in the late eighteenth century, “unity” has been a common rallying cry in attempts to hammer together strong national states over the objections of local powers and minority populations. Those who weren’t on the winning end of “unification” could see that political unity would actually obliterate the independence and self-determination of those in the minority. Put another way, unity has long been the slogan and goal of those who are in the business of state building. ......