Approaching from this side, we are immediately faced with the
questions, what kind of diversity, and for what purpose unity?
Not all the diversities enshrined in federal constitutions are
worthy of preservation. Some, such as the racial or political
discrimination of a Georgia or of an Ulster, run counter to the
ideology of the nations of which they form a part, and the federal
principle actually hinders their decent interment. There is,
however (as Montesquieu was well aware, although his countrymen
persistently disregarded his words), both moral strength and
political stability to be drawn from the diversity which springs
naturally from local responsibility for decisions on social and
economic affairs, particularly those of local interest and significance.
As Prof. Wheare puts it (p. 228), " Majorities of regions
have a significance which majorities of people have not."
Such diversity enriches the life both of the individual and of
the community. The problem is how to preserve this kind
of diversity in the face of growing centripetal tendenciestendencies
which spring both from political and from economic
origins