If we were living in forty-eight separate nations our lot, as individuals, might be worse; it probably would. Some people, using Switzerland as example, maintain that the smaller the nation the more freedom. But the Central American dictatorships refute that argument. The characteristic of the Swiss government that is often overlooked is the division of authority between the federal establishments and the cantons. That is the essential ingredient: only when the central authority is kept off balance by competition from autonomous sub divisions are the rights of citizens more secure.
