The USA should be a confederation.

I didn't think you would catch the Confederation and Confederacy in the question. Nice One. When I read your argument it hit me right in the gut, I was literally dumb founded to see that you pulled that one out. The examples you put out are quite intriguing, I almost agree with you. Argument 1: I can see how the country comes before the state in the eyes of an American, but they do not have to lose their title just because the states become a little more sovereign. As I have seen through my research of Confederations of history, I see a common pattern of them constantly falling, however, confederations are usually formed during war time. Having multiple nations come together against a foreign enemy. The United States is at War, weather or not you believe ISIS to be an Enemy Combatant or an Enemy Nation, it comes down to the fact the when states are tested they Unionize into one Confederation. In the case of the United States, the states of the union are a little too unionized. Take the Swiss Confederacy for example, during their time, they had a lot of success not only in battle but with relations amongst themselves, originally starting out with 3 nation states, they expanded to have 13. However, if you read more into the Swiss Confederation, you can see the confederacy collapsed due to the rise of Protestantism in the north and the more Catholic south. As you can see from the Swiss Confederation, all of those people classified themselves as a citizen of their specific state. Other than being a citizen of the Swiss confederation. Where I'm going with this is, if we become a confederacy, states will definitely want the citizens to be called a member of that state other than a member of the whole country, it's pretty much required for them to do so, or it would be funny going to Idaho, and someone asks you where you are from, and you say America. The citizens are going to have to get used to new conditions, such conditions however are not difficult to get used to, I would not mind to call myself a Pennsylvanian other then an American, and I can find many people who agree as well. Argument 2: I see that you were concerned about Government legitimacy, and rightfully so. However, I can rebuttal that statement. During the time of the Confederate States of America, the states of the confederation had a specified amount of sovereignty, states had more of an impact on the people living within them. However, the national government of the Confederate States was actually pretty strong (of course not as strong as the USA, but we are getting their.) and the decisions of that government had a massive impact on the country. Things such as law making, and military were mostly delegated to the national government by the states themselves. So to summarize, it really depends on how the states react to increased sovereignty and power over the National Government. Argument 3: I understand the fact that in a Confederate America the Government will not be as strong as it is now. However, states governments would combat this greatly, I love to think we are not led by a bunch of idiots, and believe that if we become a Confederation, the states would delegate a large portion of power over to the central government. I would also like to say, states today already have a hard enough time changing borders, or trying to add a claim on an island owned by another state. I can see many instances where a state government wants something done, but cannot because the Federal Government sees it to be unnecessary. If changed to a Confederation, states would have a little more leeway in what they can get away with, states may split, states may form together, the options are endless. It would be like, like minded children running around in a big playground. All having fun and getting along, with a couple cuts and bruises here and there. I admit, a Confederate America is far fetched and definitely has it's pros and cons, but anything could be better than what the US has become today. Thank You, godridden95