World Government and Globalization.

When I was a very young boy I used to think that since there was but one god there was but one religion. I also thought that commercials were public service announcements hailing new breakthroughs in everyday things like dish soap. I also thought that there was one world government since we were all people and there is but one world.

I was soon very disappointed to hear that commercials are strictly self serving, no one is really even sure a god exists and if so how many there are, and the world has many governments and forms of government; and is divided along ethnic and cultural lines.

Ok, so there probably is no god and commercials need to be viewed with scepticism as well, but is world government really a bad idea? After all, it seems to have been on the minds of countless sci fi writers over the years. In the Star Trek world of the future it seems to work very well.

It seems to be something many have thought about through the ages, including the Roman Empire which ruled most of the known world for a while, as well as Alexander the Great who ruled most of the known world of the time, and countless others like the British empire and Adolf Hitler. That’s just to name a few. But all of them planned to rule the world by force, imposing their ideas of civilization on everyone they conquered.

Certainly that kind of world domination by one culture is not the kind of thing most of us want or dream of. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to work and live anywhere in the world without thinking about passports or borders? Aren’t we all born to this world not just one area of it? Shouldn’t we all be able to proclaim that the world is mine and I should be able to go anywhere I please on it?

Of course it isn’t that simple. Culture, nationalism, fear, xenophobia, and even religion stand in our way. Oh we can immigrate, but it isn’t easy to do. It’s not just a matter of picking up your bags and starting somewhere else. You need work visas and passports. You need to jump through hoops for several years, and usually endure a host of other situations.

The EU has done away with borders. They have a governing body of the union as well as each country maintaining their own government. Now of course they did it for economic reasons. Hundreds of years or wars and conquerors were unable to unit all the countries in Europe, but economics succeeded. At least it did until a few years ago.

I’ve talked before about globalization and what it means. The idea is that the world has many markets that can be exploited if everyone is on a level playing field, and if we could iron out free trade agreements with every other country in the world everyone would prosper. But before that happens as many countries as possible all over the world need to be on board.

That means that countries need to give up some of their sovereignty. Not everyone is willing to do that. But the trend is toward more unity and closer ties between countries. It’s just a matter of time before some form of universal world government emerges.

Some Christians dislike the idea of world government not ruled by Jesus. In fact, the person who unites the world is the antichrist according to Revelations. Unity marks the beginning of the end of the world.

But will any one person pull it all together? There is a good chance that while some individuals will play a major part, there may not be just one person responsible for unification. What will Christian objections be then?

And that is yet another way to unification: uniformity of religion. Rome ruled the Western world with Christianity long after the military might of the empire was gone. In may ways it was designed to be a world government. So is Islam. That’s a scary thought.

So world government or world unification can take many forms. The ones to fear are domination by one country or one religion. Not even if that country is the US and that religion is Christian. And that kind of unification doesn’t last, as history has shown.

Another way is through the world banks. No one really wants that one either because it means that our countries would basically be run by bankers dictating government policy. But it is already happening as the world banks continue to bail countries out while demanding they modify their economy in ways that suits the banks. Greece is a good example. This will be world unification through debt.

The G20 was the brain child of a Canadian, Paul Martin. He was finance minister for the Liberal party for many years and he did very well. His ambition was to unite the world’s finance ministers in the task of globalization. He called himself a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. But his ideas have been completely usurped by the world’s capitalist conservatives and there isn’t much room for social liberalism in it anymore.

Lots of conspiracy theories have sprung up about the G20. Some of which are true.

But then there is my favoured model. I think a world government would be very possible while leaving almost everything the way it is right now domestically. Countries could keep their governments and cultures exactly as they are. But like in the UN, delegates would be sent to represent all the countries in the world that sign on, and eventually all the countries in the world.

There are many ways to get a president or head representative. He or she could be elected by the world or elected by the delegates, or the presidency could be set up on a rotating basis, each country taking its turn.

The focus of this government would be to negotiate/work on creating a level playing field for all nations, to ensure peace and security, and to ensure civil and human rights. It would create a constitution and a charter of rights and freedoms. I see it as a UN with teeth where no country has veto power.

I would also tie it in with a unified military. That would mean that no independent military forces would be allowed or tolerated within the union. All forces would be “UN” or world government forces. Wars would become obsolete or crushed quickly.

But how realistic is that idea? It certainly won’t happen overnight. There are many issues to resolve. The main one being nationalism and the fear of losing sovereignty.

Yet as I have pointed out, unification is an inevitable outcome. It is inevitable due to financial considerations alone. And that’s the danger. If the conservatives of the world have their way we will be united through debt and dictated to by world banks and large corporations. That’s the way this is all headed.

So we have a choice. We already shook off the yoke of one period of religious domination. Are we going to be able to shake off the threat of world domination by the banks?

The best way to accomplish unity is evolution helped along a bit by the will of the people. That’s how the US and Canada were formed. Do we have the will to go one step farther? The alternatives are not what anyone wants and the status quo is not going to be sustainable.

What will we do?