ASIDE: Dedicated to my beautiful late mum Debra Ross who's peaceful, united dream for the world inspired my own.
What I thought I'd do in this post is discuss a concept that some have extremely heartfelt opposition to but which I see would not only be a positive step for the world to take and a natural evolution in our political development, but one which I think should and indeed has to be done given the situation we find ourselves in right now. I'm talking of course about the concept of a world government.
I was going to attempt to explain what a world government would be, but I questioned the necessity of this task given Wikipedia as usual has a far more salient definition:
World government is the concept of a political body that would make, interpret and enforce international law. Inherent to the concept of a world government is the idea that nations would be required to pool or surrender sovereignty over some areas.
In effect, a world government would add another level of administration above the existing national governments or provide coordination over areas national governments are not capable of adequately addressing as independent polities.
The Coalition for Democratic World Government
In a nutshell, a world government would assume responsibilities currently controlled by nations today for the purpose of working on issues that affects everyone on this planet.
Let that sentence sink in. Read it again. Print it out backwards on A3 paper, stick it to your forehead and look at yourself in the mirror.
The fact is never before in our human history have we had so much at stake and so many issues that affect every single one of us, regardless of where we live. The environment, global climate change, erratic and artificial currency and foreign exchange markets, the exploitation of children, crippling and failing international financial systems, uneven natural resource allocation and distribution, territorial disputes, heartfelt and deadly religious differences... there are too many to list. The point is none of these issues can be resolved by only looking within our own borders.
We have to face the fact that the classical and romantic, yet primitive and primal concept of a "country" where "my people get this land and your people get that land" is not only an antiquated, outdated and creaky system but one that in today's world is fundamentally flawed and broken. You need look no further than inventions like the internet that span the globe or the ridiculous and childish argument being fought over who "owns" lunar real estate to see this.
Now there are those on the one hand who claim that a world government is bad because such a system has never been proven to work before; that it weakens the power countries have over their own domestic affairs; and of course there are the small but vocal minority who claim such an intergovernmental organisation is a sign of a new world order so the illuminati can force everyone to wear matching tracksuits and eat the same kind of grilled cheese sandwiches. One can only think a few hundred years ago of the people using the exact same arguments against the formation of the United States, or a hundred years ago against the federating of states in Canada and Australia. It's funny how people who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, isn't it?
The United Earth Embassy on Vulcan, from the Star Trek franchise
It's high time governments around the world grew up and admit that largely working isolated from each other is not solving our problems, and to surrender some basic and fundamental powers to an independent world government that can oversee, mediate and act on issues that affect everyone and that is in all our interests. Human rights and dignity. Resources. The environment. Information systems. The global economy.
As a third culture kid who has grown up in several countries, holds two passports, a green card for one country and a permanent residency pass for another, who considers nowhere home and who has little desire to own a house because he would be stuck in one place, this is probably easier for me to do, but I encourage you to try it. We need to stop being patriotic towards human invented flags and political borders, and start feeling pride for being Humans and feel pride for our exceedingly beautiful, sacred and precious microscopic orb in this unfathomably gargantuan solar system, galaxy, universe and multiverse.
Because some people might not want to acknowledge it, but our actions now affect everyone. And these cute little country political games we played in the 19th century just aren't going to cut it in the 21st. We need a world government, and we need it now.
Rubenerd Blog Related Links
- New quality of life rankings, why I’m skeptical. (2008.10.15)
- 3/700ths of a Wall Street bailout will feed every child (2008.10.01)
- I believe in the United Nations Charter (2008.08.22)
- The Church of the New World Order! (2008.08.20)
- You Heard Me! Don’t Shut Down the UN! (2006.10.30)
While I readily admit that I dislike (hate) nationalism for the atrocities done under it's flag, I'm hesitant to believe an Earth government is possible at this point in our history. I'm not saying that we shouldn't head in that direction, only that the seeds of that idea are just germinating. I believe if the inhabitants of our planet survive themselves, there will be a necessity for a global governing body. One that has the blessing of the people and doesn't cower from the type of hierarchies of power which are now in place. I'm sure I will never see it, but perhaps you or your children will Ruben. Whatever structures are in store for the future of this planet, the key to their success will be whether their foundations are constructed on grassroots democracy or the ivory tower variety. The people shouldn't hold up the pillars of a Global Village...they should "be" the pillars! ;-)
The world is definately spinning to this direction. There will be sooner or later, the entire world under the control of one man. It will be a one world government. As a Messianic/Christian who believes that God's Word is true (the bible), the scriptures point to such a scenario. By the next few short years, unions would be formed out of the current existing economic blocs. The Amero (North American Union currency)is already planned behind the scenes. The EU will perhaps lead the globe in the absence of the USA's power, and hence from this things will unfold leading to the rule of this globe by one individual. A new set of rules will be enforced, especially persecuting folks who practice fundamental religion. Preaching would probably be banned, who knows. Some Christians are still asleep, they don't believe such would happen, not anytime soon for them (the sleeping folks) at least... but for the majority of us, it is in the here and now, it will happen soon.
Also, it is good for us humans to have love for one another, to show love to the weak and down-trodden, to the heartbroken and weary. To be kind to God's creation (I hate animal and human abuse). Unfortunately mankind has abused much and is continueing to do so without end so it seems (but fear not it will one fine day end). People working toward having a better quality of life but not at the cost of morals and an absence of the Creator of the universe I would agree with. Incidently I almost forgot to mention in the earlier post, that out of these future Unions, such as the EU, NAU, and who knows what else would form, well out of these, they would all join up and become a one world government! I guess the UN be assimilated into this too. Basically you can say "big brother" would be watching people during that time.
I wish I could give my answer the attention a post this stimulating deserves; however time escapes me!
Let me just rebut one of your points:
"We have to face the fact that the classical and romantic, yet primitive and primal concept of a "country"..."
In many ways this isn't accurate; what we think of as a 'nation' is a comparatively new concept. States as we know them were borne out of the westphalian agreement in the middle of the 17th century, and did not exist in a global sense until the collapse of the world's colonial empires following world war two.
But this post has interested me so much that when I get some spare time I'll write a proper counter-argument! I'll post back in a few days. :)
Ruben, for what it's worth...I find your thought provoking posts much more enlightening than the tech stuff. Not that Mac and FreeBSD isn't important. On the contrary...it's just that I'm an old coot whose tech savvy could be characterized as falling somewhere between our evolutionary shift from Neanderthal to Homosapien. I would like to see the inhabitants of our world working and living in harmony sooner rather than later myself. I think we have to realize that once the idea is germinated, we have to allow time for the roots to acquire a firm hold...then growth will happen rather quickly. ;-)
I jotted down some thoughts on the Global Village (stole that label) idea a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if all the links are still active or not, but I think you will still be able to mine the important minerals of thought out of the piece. :-)
There are many groups/organizations who believe in the possibility of global egalitarian society. I'm sure you've visited them already. YES magazine comes to mind, as well as Axis of Logic, Ode, and World Citizen. I'm sure there are hundreds of similar organizations, which says to me...we are heading in the direction of which you speak! Peace Bro!
A strong global mandate for democratic world government would be legally binding under international law, and would be politically compelling no matter what its legal status. We can collect that mandate by using the Internet to launch a global referendum. In other words, we know how to get a democratic world government if that’s what the human race wants.
Our Internet ballot (see http://www.voteworldgovernment.org) has kick-started the voting process, but to seriously pursue this enormous initiative, we will require a UN resolution calling on all nations to run national referendums in tandem with their national elections as the building blocks or “national components” of the global referendum (see this UN resolution at http://www.voteworldgovernment.org/draftUNresolution.pdf). Success at this higher level depends on our success at the grassroots level. The best way to get the UN and national governments to do as we ask is to prove that we, the people, can do it all without their help, if need be. Then they’ll help. So if you wish to help out, they best way to do that is to collect as many ballots as you can (and sign up for our newsletter, called The WorldVoter, at http://www.voteworldgovernment.org, then check the “volunteer” link for ideas that will work).
"A strong global mandate for democratic world government would be legally binding under international law, and would be politically compelling no matter what its legal status. We can collect that mandate by using the Internet to launch a global referendum. In other words, we know how to get a democratic world government if that’s what the human race wants."
That's quite absurd; international law is a toothless tiger—it may look intimidating, but has no power at all. Politicians are only beholden to their own specific electorates and not global consensus. Even climate change, a movement with more global support than unified governance will ever have, has so far failed to motivate politicians at any level to commit to major action.
At least in Australia, referendums are incredibly hard to pass; only 8 out of 44 since federation have been passed. If Australia rejects somethimg compartively basic like changing its head of state it is unimagiable that we would agree to that proposition.
Of course, Australia would be the least of the objectors; countries like the US, Russia, China and so forth would never agree to this—America sees itself as a country primus inter pares, protected by god. These three nations, aside from being united in the way they protection their sovereignty (China and Taiwan—need I say more?), also have veto power and would kill this resolution if some miracle occurred which got it pass the general assembly.
You seem to sadly forget the core element of international politics: power. States have never willingly and freely consented to diminution of their sovereignty and power, and especially not on a level of this magnitude.
The human race should be far more concerned about working within current systems than throwing the baby out with the bath water and restarting at stage one; our crises can't wait while we come up with new tools and figure out how to use them, they require solutions here and now.
Show me one internet ballot that has caused one iota of difference in the real world on anything even approaching this scope and I'll eat my hat. It's laudable to try, but don't have false hope, or encourage false hope in others.