Chapter 17

What the World Needs Now

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love…”
—Burt Bacharach

The world could certainly use more love. But what it needs is not sweet love; it needs tough love in the form of effectively enforced international law. My overwhelming goal is the eradication of WMDs. The UN has not been able to prevent war, stop genocide, and eradicate WMDs. Every other attempt that the nations of the world have made has failed. In the following chapters, I discuss a possible solution, “limited global democracy.” It is certainly not the only solution nor may it even be the best solution. However, any approach which can bring about the elimination of WMDs should be seriously considered.

Although individual nations have laws and the means to enforce them, the world as a whole does not. I propose a constitution that is the supreme law of our planet, global judicial system, legislative body, and law enforcement agency to uphold international law. Its primary purpose would be to deal with those perils, which threaten to extinguish life on a mass scale.

Such a supra-national body would protect global interests by protecting each nation's rights and security, as well as each individual's rights. Within the framework of a limited global constitutional governing body, individuals involved in illegal activities can be stopped with relatively simple local law enforcement, and conflicts can be resolved before they escalate into wars. The reduction of war between nations would obviate the need for WMDs, and global law would make enforcement of a ban on WMDs possible.

A global democracy would not replace existing national laws and constitutions. Nor would it take away from national pride or individual heritages and cultures. Citizens could speak their own languages, pray as they wish, enjoy free speech, and vote in free elections for their world leaders. Words like country, glory, and patriotism and symbols like our flag touch us all at a deep level. They remind us there is something larger than our individual human existence. These words and symbols would retain their impact on us, but would also apply to our world.

I am not suggesting that we replace our current model of domestic government, nor would any other country necessarily need to do so as long as that government is committed to a global goal of eradicating WMDs, genocide, and terrorism. Nations would not lose their sovereignty except with respect to those three problems. To the contrary, I am suggesting that we supplement our present domestic models of government with a thin outer layer of world government, which enacts and enforces international law. Each section of an orange is strong on its own, but stronger when wrapped together, albeit by just a thin skin.