Political Crossfire Forums

[Marcus Aurelius]

I was reading Orson Scott Card's book Shadow of the Giant, and I found an interesting concept. A world government, the Free Peoples of Earth, with its own military, that did not represent nations but the inhabitants of earth. In the book (excellent, btw) two new nations are created through self determination, protected by the FPE's military. The FPE possessed the power to protect all members, while insuring that democracy was the guiding force.

Should this be something we should be working towards? Would it be better to have a real world government (signup optional) to provide stability, with its own military? And how long might it be before the nations of the world agree to give up their much of their sovereignty?

[thundertaker]

And what would that world military be used for I wonder?

[Marcus Aurelius]

The world military would exist to protect member states, until such time as every nation became a member. Then the military could be disbanded, with only a token force to deal with severe criminal and terrorist elements

[Democratika]

While I love the idea Marcus, how do we protect ourselves from the individuals that come to power through legal or illegal means in the government. When the world is protected by only one government, who protects the world from that government. One of the major reasons many countries of the world are reforming today is pressure exerted on them by other countries.

Would South Africa be free today, if the West didn't impose the harsh embargo that it did? Possibly not. One of the interesting things happening in today's world is that a country must reform in order to compete. That is why the Soviet Union fell. That is why the Chinese are lessening their restrictions on free trade, and why N. Korea is flirting with the idea. Global competition is freeing people as militaries never could. What happens to that competition when there is one central state.

[Fowl]

I myself have read the sequels to this book, and the reason such a government existed in the book is due to the multiple worlds that existed. Each world acts as a singular nation with a single government. Each world acts as one unit, similar to how we are currently divided into single-unit countries. Currently, we do not have multiple worlds to function in, and so the most effective way to rule Earth is what we have now, besides the corruption, we have done a fairly good job of organizing and dividing earth into different nations. We do not need to evolve into such thoughts anytime soon.

[superskippy]

Prepare for the Invasion of Mars I suppose. :-D

[Fowl]

Good thinking Mr. Superskippy, that is a more intelligent first step as opposed to working on changing something that does not to be changed. I say, why fix something that’s not broken? Although, the entire invasion of Mars, seems like a fairly intelligent project to work on, especially considering out lack of space on earth. The disadvantage to that is the lack of Resources on Mars although that can be worked with. If, that’s if, we do end up infesting Mars, then it would seem fairly logical to change our governmental positions.

[W.C. Emerson]

I agree on many points-
The reason that Peter Wiggin originally had an office was the threat of the buggers. This threat was the reason the people of the earth (in Ender's Game) decided to band together under one government, the IF. After the threat disappeared, the one government broke up due to corruption and too many people who wanted power. However, i think the reason the IF broke up also had a lot to do with the reason that the IF didn't exist to rule the people- it existed to keep them alive. If we could find a government that united all people under their will, it might work. We would have to make a lot of concessions. If the countries became like states, we'd have to give them more power than the US gives it's states now, because of the variety of people under the governments rule.

Also, i love Card's idea that the military was not the solution. Perhaps that's the most useful idea from his book, which is a great book.

[MJBaboon]

I too have read "The Shadow of the Giant" and think that the FPE is a great idea. In theory. The inherent problem with such a form of government is that it means each country joining would have to give up all of its personal and selfish ambitions in order to contribute to the greater good. I think that it is safe to say that not many countries would be willing to do that. Most people can't see past their own selfish wants and needs and realize whats good for them or for their country is not necessarily good for the world. It would truly take an alien invasion or something of that magnitude to get people to unite like that.

However, I hope that this is not always the case, and that there will be a time when at least a few world leaders can swallow their pride and surrender at least their country's military and political power for the greater good. How much better off would we be as a species if all of the money and resources that we put towards our militaries went instead towards things like education, medicine, and space travel?