If America really is a voluntary union of 50 sovereign and independent nation states and not one nation indivisible as I have seen asserted in a Facebook post, what is to prevent some states from barring Black folks from the lunch counter without the others interfering? Why don't we take these implications a little further? Under this theory of 50 independent nation states, what is to prevent particular ones from forbidding interracial marriage or even authorizing the involuntary servitude of those failing to live up to certain racial criteria? Let's take the idea a step further. If there is no overarching set of principles to which the states are bound in union, what is to prevent Michigan from declaring Sharia law where those converting to Christianity from Islam and women refusing to wear veils are subject to public execution?