Poll: One World Government?

[Singing Gremlin]

"In the year 2012, the earth was hit by the last thing anyone expected - Sanity."

I just don't think it'd work. Human nature needs the 'other' to point (weapons) at. I'd like to think we'd buy into the everyone is the same and equal, but we'd find things to make social rifts over, and it'd all go downhill from there.

 

[LewsTherin]

but the thing is, is there is one world government, there WON'T BE any first world countries. The whole idea is that the planet will be unified into a single country, not something like the U.N where they just are in the same playpen.

Having one world government won't magically and suddenly equip the people formerly living in poor countries with the capital and skills necessary for a first-world standard of living. Of course, under a single government the world would finally see completely free trade which would even things out but still, it would take a lot of time before for the populations in these countries to aquire the skills and capital necessary for a western standard of living.

But it would eventually happen. I didn't say it would happen quickly of easily.

yeah, it's hopeless idealism. If "humanity's better nature" was winning out, those oil exporters and oil executives would hear about how people have to choose between food and walking to work, or how people might not be able to heat their homes, and lower prices.

Ah, but the oil companies time is already running out...

 

[Necrohydra]

yeah, it's hopeless idealism. If "humanity's better nature" was winning out, those oil exporters and oil executives would hear about how people have to choose between food and walking to work, or how people might not be able to heat their homes, and lower prices.

Ah, but the oil companies time is already running out...

I only used them as an example for my point. Greed is quite a prominent motivating factor in our society today, and it cares little for the welfare of the fellow man.

 

[werepossum]

Quick, let's all imagine how great the world would be if the incompetent and frequently corrupt UN had all government power and no competition!

MMMMM!

 

[John Galt]

Quick, let's all imagine how great the world would be if the incompetent and frequently corrupt UN had all government power and no competition!

MMMMM!

*Engages Rose Tinted Goggles*

Mmmmm....Oil For Food...

 

[Copter400]

Lads and ladies, vote Copter for world emperor.

 

[tthor]

lol not long ago, i had actually thought this all out.
i think that mankind wont be able to truely advance until we stop working against each other and work together as a whole.

 

[tthor]

i dont believe a world government would work just yet, we still have a lot of growing to do before that is ever possible.
i do believe that if we could establish a strong world government, we will be able to truly progress

 

[tthor]

"In the year 2012, the earth was hit by the last thing anyone expected - Sanity."

I just don't think it'd work. Human nature needs the 'other' to point (weapons) at. I'd like to think we'd buy into the everyone is the same and equal, but we'd find things to make social rifts over, and it'd all go downhill from there.

i think you have a point there...

 

[baldbastard]

It would take some kind of event to unify us as humans, not by skin color, religion or ethnicity. Once we move beyond earth and evolve from a terrestrial species to an extraterrestrial species (that has to be the next step in our evolution...no one is growing a third eye anytime soon) it may be possible to govern ourselves as humans...Provided some idiot from Texas doesn't get us into a nuclear shooting war.

 

[stompy]

I don't think it's possible as of now, since we as humans aren't really capable at the moment to unite. We're still bickering and infighting, and as some others have pointed out, it's be pretty damn impractical with all the paper-pushing.

That being said, the moment humanity faces some danger (like, hostile aliens'n'stuff), we'll unite under one banner. If something like (sorry, this is all I can think of at the moment) Mass Effect happens, where humanity finds out it's a small fish in a fucking ocean, then we'll most likely form a united government and keep it to ensure, to the best of our ability, that humanity as a species continues to exist.

Of course, someone'll most likely pick this apart and prove me wrong...

 

[KamikazeSailor]

If it worked in Star Trek it can work for us.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Eh, Heaven will be better than what any politician can cook up.

 

[zari]

I don't think that proper (ie working) world government is possible in our current time.
However I also think that eventually world values will start to homogenise - I think we've started to see the beginnings of it through the pervasive reach of the Internet, but it's going to be a bloody long time before most people see things mostly the same way. I think that if you inform people enough they will gradually come to see things the same way - but I'm enough of a realist to push my expectations of this happening so far beyond my lifetime I don't have to justify my faith (for lack of a better word) with evidence

For what it's worth I'm semi-lefty libtertarian according to the political compass.

 

[jimstark]

I just wrote a book on this idea of world government, and while it will not be released to stores by the publisher until September 5, 2008, advance copies (as well as 3 free chapters) are available at www.RescuePlanForPlanetEarth.com

In my view, not only is democratic world government possible and peferable, it is possible within a decade and quite necessary if humanity is to survive threats to our existence such as nuclear weapons and climate change. Tim Flannery, the author who wrote the bestseller "The Weather Makers," says we will have world government, and that the choice we face is between a Big Brother-type of authoritarian institution that will use military means to try to save the planet without reference to the "will of the people," or a democratic world government. I agree entirely with his analysis, and since democracy is governance with the consent of the governed, that means those of us who want democratic world government must conduct a global referendum (and that referendum must pass quite strongly) if we are to unite as a species to authorize and compel the construction of a DWG (democratic world government).

In a couple of hours, I will be doing my 6th guest spot on radio phone-in shows in the USA (although I am Canadian), and I can tell you that most of the callers so far have been those who have glommed onto one world government conspiracy theory or another, or people who allow thier fears to dominate thier reason. Few people even hear me when I tell them we must have a democratic world government, and that we now know how to get it (since the Internet allows us to collect votes from everywhere on Earth).

If some of you might like to go beyond talking and help get this job done, I could sure use a little help. Go to www.voteworldgovernment.org to vote, and use the "Contact Us" form to write me if you wish. And by the way, we have an 18-nation poll that indicates that people in those nations favor DWG in a ratio of about 3 to 1.

I will ask one of our Board members to stay in touch with this discussion. I'm afraid I'm far too busy to be a regular contributor here, but I hope my offering has encouraged interest in this vital issue.

Cheers,

Jim Stark,
President,
Vote World Government

 

[Unknower]

Let's look at history. First there were nomadic tribes. Then villages. Then citystates. Then alliances between the citystates. Then states. Then bigger states. Then even bigger states. Etc.
If history repeats itself, then you'll probably have a one world government at one point. Though that could take couple of centuries.

Though at one point, mankind might succeed in colonizing space. History might repeat itself when that happens.

 

[Saskwach]

Saskwatch, I approve of the return of the cthulu avatar!

Shucks, people notice. Yeah, I wasn't happy with the other one. It didn't seem as iconic and I realised I couldn't leave my baby. Saskwach will forever more be synonymous with Cthulhu.

Quick, let's all imagine how great the world would be if the incompetent and frequently corrupt UN had all government power and no competition!

MMMMM!

*Engages Rose Tinted Goggles*

Mmmmm....Oil For Food...

*Averts gaze at Oz government's complicity in OfF's corruption.*

 

[TomNook]

Could all of you lefty libertarians please explain your position, it just seems like a HUGE oxymoron to me.

 

[ShyWinter]

Hell, people in the same country have a hard time getting along over stupid things. Isn't that why nations are divided up into states/provinces with state/province specific laws and why some countries are confederacies?

 

[Khedive Rex]

Could all of you lefty libertarians please explain your position, it just seems like a HUGE oxymoron to me.

Speaking solely for myself, Left Libertarianism springs from the knowledge that while a government that has too much power is one of the greatest forces of oppression, a corporation that has too much power can give it a good run for it's money. When either side find's itself unquestioned the people are the ones who tend to get the short stick.

These two sides are ussually fighting for power, and the citizenry is better off when neither are really winning. So you try to keep both of them at about equivalent levels as low as possible so you can keep a watch on them but ensure they keep combating each other instead of enjoying their winnings.

By the same token there are certain things that a government really is better at doing than a corporation. Infrastructure for example. A corporation has no insentive to create things like roads or levees; there isn't any profit behind it. It's governments that end up creating airports and once they are built corporations build the airplanes and start to run a business. Without the Government to begin though, it doesn't happen. Look at the countless tragedies that could have been prevented with stronger infastructure. New Orleans, Cedar Rapids, all of these were caused by faulty levees. The reason we have faulty levees is because we expect the free market to create them when there isn't any long lasting profit in levees.

So overall, Left Libertarians are Libertarians because they believe that government has to be regulated and watched carefully and they're Left because they're not of the crazed, pseudo-anarchistic bent that some libertarians fall into. We recognize that corporations aren't our best friends and god's gift to man.

And again, I'm only speaking for myself. Other people might have different philosophies.