I don't think any reasonable person believes the sovreignity of the US states is 'still in debate'. The United States is a federal republic. The civil war settled more than the issue of slavery, in fact for many, Lincoln included, the primary issue of that war was not slavery but indivisibility and the supremacy of the federal union.

The marvelous southern historian, Shelby Foote, described the entire outcome of the Civil War in a short sentence. "Before the Civil War people said 'The United States are...', after the Civil War people said 'The United States is...' we went from an are to an is, plural to singular. Is there a single person who uses the plural today?

Effectively the states are sources of pride and administative units with marginally different governance that is heavily controlled/restricted at the Federal level. So-called 'states rights' do not sovreignity make. They merely define the areas of governance left to that particular administrative unit, just as some issues are left to municipalities, counties, townships, or justice of the peaceships.

Spirited arguements can be made as to whether or not the US ought to be a single country, particularly in the case of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, but it is at this point in its history it is one country.

[This message has been edited by myriad (edited 09-06-2000).]

[This message has been edited by myriad (edited 09-06-2000).]

The term cabotage refers to something that is not allowed - even after the "open skies" agreements. Cabotage means that an airline from one country could travel between two points in a second country and transport people only between those two points. This is not allowed. Some airlines (LH between DFW and HOU, for example) have these routes as continuations of flights from abroad, but they cannot board any passengers between those two points.