In the near to far future, national boundaries will lessen in favor of

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   gmwilliamsposted 11 years ago

   
   a more global construct.  Many people are already seeing beyong a parochial nationalistic construct. They believe that there is no one country better or more premeniment than other country. They see all countries and nations as one unified construct.  Do you believe that globalism as a concept will be beneficial or detrimental to the world? Why? Why not?

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      Education Answerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      IF all countries were, in fact, equal, that would be one thing.  I find it amusing when this topic comes up from time to time.  Yes, some countries are more important.  Yes, some countries are better.  How many of us would have liked to live in the Soviet Union?  How about North Korea or China?  Is Britain more important than Togo?  Yep.  I know it's not politically correct to say these things, but it's true.

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      swordsbaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Um... no.  National boundaries are as strong as they have ever been.  Not the physical barriers they used to be, but nationalism and the "my country, wrong or right" mentality is still ravaging our collective culture.  People are more concerned with WHO governs them than HOW they are governed, even though HOW is more important.  The United States is as arrogant as they ever were, and the Mid-East vs West struggle is reaching epic proportions.
      
      While I still have hope for humanity, your scenario is in the FAR future, if it's there at all.
      
      As to whether Globalism is better or worse than what we have now.... as you say: as a concept, it's a great idea.  As it is being implemented today... in fits and starts with a few nations trying to control the entire development of it and the economics of all the country's being so far out of whack with each other that they're as likely to start wars than bring about peace and prosperity.... No... I don't see anything really to endorse in all the chaos, except maybe that some of the people involved seem to have their hearts in the right place, but either they are being used by others to less savory ends or they are well-meaning idiots, they are almost more dark-side than light.
      
      What we need is a sea change.  An entirely new way of thinking about the entirely new way of thinking that globalism is.  It's not going to happen with the attitudes and emotional baggage that WW2, the cold war, the War on Drugs and the War on Terror have instilled in us.
      
      Globalization:  It's a nice idea.  I think someone should try it.

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   Education Answerposted 11 years ago

   With our border security as pathetic and porous as it is, don't we already have this to some extent?

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      swordsbaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Our border has always been porous and pathetic.  It's only recently that it's begun to make us tragically paranoid.  In the ideal world, you WANT to be able to let people walk across your national borders as easy as they travel from state to state.  You don't want to have the economies of two countries SO different that the people of one country would risk prison, injury or death to get to the other one.  Our immigration problem is a symptom of other internal problems in our country and our dealings with Mexico, and THEIR internal problems.  It isn't a CAUSE of anything.

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         Education Answerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         That sounds great on paper. 
         
         Living in a border state, that's not how I see it.  I see extra costs.  I see extra criminal activity.  I see extra difficulties in schools.

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            swordsbaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Like I said; a SYMPTOM, not a cause.  Simply shutting the borders won't help.  In the first place, it's impossible.  People will still make it into the country and you will still see those problems.
            
            The cause is the REASON they are trying to get into this country.  Mostly, they have nothing left to lose, or they're selling drugs, or they're a criminal element that is linked to one or the other groups.  We're losing the Drug War, Mexico is falling into the same chasm as the rest of the world (but they fall faster because they're not as economically robust)  If things keep going as they are, we're going to end up with a continuous concrete wall along the border with machine-gun nests all across it with orders to shoot to kill anything coming from the South that has two legs.  And we STILL won't have solved the problem.
            
            Illegal immigration is not the problem.  Anyone who says differently is trying to win you're vote and has no interest in solving the issues you described.

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               Education Answerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               From a philosophical point of view, I understand what you are saying.  However, we can't even fix our own problems; how are we going to fix Mexico's problems too?  The problem is that your solution is harder than securing the border, and securing the border isn't easy.
               
               At the rate our country is spending money and losing our industrial production, we may become the next Mexico, given a few more decades of decline.  Then, both countries will be equal, and this won't be a problem.  Is that optimism or pessimism?  LOL

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   Sooner28posted 11 years ago

   And the world will live as one...
   
   Such balderdash.  Humans will never be mature enough to live as citizens of the earth, rather than of a nation.

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      gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Of course, at the present stage of the game, they are.  However, do you perceive an improvement regarding the evolution of human consciousness beyond present artificial boundaries of nationhood?

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         swordsbaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         If we survive the next 50 years or so, we will HAVE to improve our consciousness beyond the artificial boundaries of race and nation.  I am convinced that if we don't we will hit a world-wide crisis, like famine, a big war or disease that we will simply be unable to cope with because we are all just looking out for our own interests and not thinking of the wellfare of the human race as a whole.  There are some who would say the current recession could very well be it, but I'm not so certain.  It is definitely a wake-up call, but I'm not sure that it is the "decision point" that we will have to face.  Right now, we are circling the drain.  We are headed in the wrong direction.  We're in a speeding car headed for a cliff and the amid arguments about who owns the rights to which part of the car and what color it should be painted, the only "solutions" we seem capable of coming up with is to press down on the accelerator.
         
         I have faith in humanity.  I think we WILL make the right decision when we come to it.  It does disappoint me that we can save ourselves a lot of anguish, hardship and perhaps millions of lives if we could somehow make the decision BEFORE we have to, but the people in the drivers seat don't see the danger, or if they do they are ignoring it.  Some of the passengers have seen it, but they are the one's with the window seats and they are still only looking out for themselves.  A TINY minority are waving their arms trying to get everyone else's attention, but they are being ignored.  It's human nature to wait until things are incredibly bad.  Then the heroes emerge to yank us back from the brink at the last second.  We'll see the worst and the best mankind has to offer during that time, but I'd rather we just turned the wheel now, when we can do it without dramatics or thrill, no heroes or villans.  Just someone having a good idea and running with it.

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