Subject: Re: Now That's a BAD Jobs Report
This imaginative act of creation has led to a lot of violence in our modern world. With very few (if any) exceptions, this process of nation state formation results in violent acts of cultural and linguistic homogenization, forced assimilation, bantustanization, dislocation and ethnic cleansing, and, in the worst cases, genocide.

I think that we're clearly in the "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others" realm here.

These things aren't particular to the process of nation state formation. They're not products of nation states generally. They've been near universal parts of the human experience long before 1648 (or whenever you want to date the idea of a "nation state" too). People have been engaged in violent acts of homogenization for millennia before Westphalian states existed. It has nothing to do with whether the majority group organizes itself around a "nation state," or a kingdom or clan or tribe or caliphate or whatever. It existed long before "nation states" did. Protestants in Bloody Mary's England in the 16th century, Jews and Moors in Spain in the 15th century, everyone in late Sengoku Japan in the 16th century - forced assimilation, dislocation and ethnic cleansing, and genocide were (tragically) near-universal aspects of societies long before anyone thought of a modern nation state.

The liberal (small "l") ideal of how people should live in society is to be free to pursue their own idea of the good life and to be largely indifferent (tolerant) to how other people want to pursue their idea of the good life, within certain rules. Which is lovely in theory, but not how many (most?) people want to live their lives. Many (most) people want to live their idea of the good life within a community that also shares that idea. They draw value and meaning by being part of a community that shares their culture, language, values, observances and rituals, and concept of what a good and just and worthwhile life should be. They also derive a sense of security and protection from being the majority. They do not want to be a tolerated minority (even one with full rights!) within a community where another group is the majority. They want to be the majority.

That's not how liberals (small "l") conceive of the good life, and not how they want the world to be. But many (most) humans aren't atomistic, but social, beings. They want to be part of a majority community. Hence we see in the U.S. a lot of people "shifting" into red and blue communities - the Big Sort - so that they can live in communities where their values are put into practice community-wide, not just by individuals.

The ills you describe above are not caused by the nation-state. They are caused by this very widespread desire of humans to be in a community where they are the majority.

Personally, I think the nation-state helps solve this problem more than it hurts, because it creates the possibility of organization a society that doesn't depend on homogeneity to function. Whereas most of the pre-nation state societies regarded lack of homogeneity as an existential threat to the stability of the governmental structure. If your nation is organized as a kingdom where the king's basis to rule derives from being the anointed by god, religious minorities who don't believe in your god (or the Pope) are a fundamental threat to rule and order.