There are so many treaties that America helped negotiate but will not sign. There are many treaties that America signed but will not abide by. And there are many treaties that America once negotiated and signed but unilaterally pulled out from.

America will not sign the Kyoto treaty that aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas. A treaty that California, New York and many other states will gladly sign if they were countries.

America will not sign the Oslo Land mine ban. America says such a ban will expose its soldiers to harm. Go figure.

America will not sign on to the International Criminal Court. The Rome treaty that created the court is aimed at combating war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. America wants its service men excluded from the consequences of the treaty.

Even the global treaty codifying the rights of people with disabilities, America says it does not need such treaty for its laws are serving people with disabilities very well.

America withdrew from Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. America wants to be able to protect its people and if it needs to, and to be able to build the star wars missile program.

America, when it pleases it, disregards the Non-proliferation treaty, the Geneva Convention Protocol, Tobacco Control Initiative and the UN Charter.

America does not just do what it likes. America does what it considers right for its people. Beyond that, America does not want to subjugate the American Constitution to any international treaty. America wants to retain its sovereignty. More importantly, America wants to retain the perception of itself as a country that still retains its sovereignty.

Nothing is wrong with that. Nothing at all. After all, it has been the American century.

As the world changes and the American century gives way, it frightens anyone who thinks that the world is badly governed now. When it is no longer an American world, how will the world be governed? How many of the new powers –China, India, Brazil will learn from America’s example today? When America really really wants something passed in a treaty, how will America negotiate when it has lost its carrots and its sticks?

Those are questions for the political realms.

The metric system has been adopted by all the countries of the world apart from America, Liberia and Myanmar, which America still calls Burma though they have said their name is Myanmar. What a distinguished group America is in company of.

The three countries above are the three wise men who have decided they will not accept the international system of measurement aimed at unifying the single unit of any physical quantity for personal, commercial and scientific uses.

The advantages of adopting the metric system are enormous. It reduces the need for conversions. It takes away the confusion in daily transactions like an American buying a shoe in Europe or an Europeans buying a shoe in America. It minimizes the use of fractions in measurements.

With the metric system, an American anywhere in the world will not be at a loss as to what the temperature is, what the distance stands for and, what their weight really means. And the world, when they visit America will not be lost like tourists in New York City. With the metric system, Americans will essentially be speaking the language of the world. For businesses that deal with America, it will be less expensive to calibrate for Americans in a different language.

The French needed a Revolution in 1789 to put it in place. When on June 22, 1799 a metric system proclamation was read, the motto adopted was “for all men, for all time.” Worldwide adoption was slow. On May 20, 1875 an international treaty known as the Convention du Mètre (Meter Convention) establishing organizations to work on creating uniform system for measurements was signed by 17 countries, including the United States.

The metric system that emerged was unified. Gradually, nations were encouraged to join. As nations join, they essentially begin to see the physical world alike. Because every nation beats its way to America’s door, America doesn’t feel the need to join. As the post-American world becomes a reality, a time will come when Americans will begin to get out in large numbers, both physically and emotionally. When that time comes, America will be shocked at the unknown world out there.

America does not need a revolution to join the metric system. America needs guts to accept that the world will not be America’s forever. It wasn’t for Tony Montana, forever, and it cannot be for America, forever.