n.n.: For practical purposes I agree, except ~institutions~

In my opinion, nations are something like waves - an emergent phenomenon that exists on a substrate of people, institutions, culture, land, physical infrastructure, and so on.

And as such, while it’s difficult to determine what, exactly, the moral liability or capability of “the United States of America” is, or that of any particular American within the system or as a share of the USA’s burdens, it’s a real entity or thing that exists and has causal power.

If we define nations out of existence, to some degree, I think we also risk defining people out of existence.