# World Constitution **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 2, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801 "2010-10-02T01:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/61 "2010-10-04T05:49:57Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Well OK New Zealand was the first at a federal level but South Australia beat them to the punch! National (or Federal) level is all that counts, unfortunately. So no, South Australia didn’t beat NZ to the punch since South Australia soon become part of the Commonwealth Of Australia, which didn’t grant women the vote at the time. NZ granted Female Suffrage in its modern sense first, end of story. I’m sure if you looked hard enough you could find examples of women getting the vote at a localised level in various places far earlier in history, but sadly they too aren’t considered to count (excuse the pun). > [@](#): > > Remeber at the time we were both English colonies. It’s worth bearing in mind that this doesn’t mean the UK was the first to grant women the vote. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/62 "2010-10-04T08:05:19Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Well OK New Zealand was the first at a federal level but South Australia beat them to the punch! Wow and the USA was 1920, bit slow. > > Remeber at the time we were both English colonies. …dude, your country has claimed Tim and Neil Finn, Phar Lap and the Pavlova. (You can keep Russell Crowe.) Don’t even think about claiming to be the first country to grant Universal Female Suffrage! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/63 "2010-10-04T08:19:55Z")
I doubt any form of meaningful democracy could be upheld in a world government. I personally think that if you don’t run into your president or equivalent a couple times a month in the local supermarket or pizza take-away, then the distance between the ruler and the people is already suspiciously remote. Humanity has not evolved to have a meaningful concept of 6 billion people. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/64 "2010-10-04T11:58:15Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > I doubt any form of meaningful democracy could be upheld in a world government. I personally think that if you don’t run into your president or equivalent a couple times a month in the local supermarket or pizza take-away, then the distance between the ruler and the people is already suspiciously remote. Humanity has not evolved to have a meaningful concept of 6 billion people. Agreed, and shouldn’t be the goal anyway. People as a whole make incredibly stupid and short-sighted decisions when placed in a direct democratic forum. Many vote based on party line, religious doctrine, or what directly benefits themselves instead of society as a whole. A large portion is simply unable to understand the concepts, another huge block is able but uninterested or unwilling, and the remainder are either employed in it or think it’s a game. What we NEED to do is suck all the fun and opportunity for controversy in government and ensure it stays focused on doing what it is supposed to do. Until we have a responsible, fact driven media and limitations on political “fair game”, any sort of true democracy is doomed to fail. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/65 "2010-10-04T22:28:40Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Well OK New Zealand was the first at a federal level but South Australia beat them to the punch! Wow and the USA was 1920, bit slow. 1920 was a federal consitutional amendment. Women in America had the right to vote much before that in various states, or counties, or cities, also by different kinds of voting. Women in Wyoming had absolute full voting rights by 1869, which might be lots earliler than either australia or New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/66 "2010-10-04T22:30:43Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Oh and the right to bear arms, bloody hell I don’t want that in my country. You will never get a world constitution without a: **Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms** **Right to a jury trial Freedom from unreasonable search Freedom of the press** **Freedom of religion** ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/67 "2010-10-04T22:40:14Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > Isn’t the point of a world government that we would not need war anymore? No, it is not the point at all. Since more people die by the hand of their own governments ( Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mao’s Red China, Cambodia, black Africans, Australian aboriniginees, Native American Inidans, etc. etc. ) than by foreign armies, a 1 world government will not stop civilians from being masacreed. In fact, even more people might be murdered by the 1 world government than are murdered today by foreign invasions. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/68 "2010-10-04T22:43:53Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > > [@Susanann](#): > > > > There is no need for a “world” constitution. > > If you really do want to make the world better, all you gotta do is to get every nation in the world to adopt the United States Constitution and the United States Bill of Rights. > > Why not another country’s constitution? Seems to me that Canada’s is pretty good. The UK’s is unwritten, but has a lot of history (like 900 years) to recommend it. Is the US Constitution and Bill of Rights special somehow? What would you suggest to countries that don’t like, and won’t ratify, the US documents? Yeah, the US Consitution **is** special, and unique in the world. Canada and the UK do not guarantee individual personal freedoms and liberties like the USA does. Therefore, both Canada and the UK are disqualified. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/69 "2010-10-04T22:48:52Z")
> [@godix](#): > > As a general rule, I don’t like the idea of any world government. Every government has problems. They persecute citizens who are innocent, or pass laws based on religious morality that hurt those not of that religion, or design policies that are just plain dumb and dangerous, etc. etc. etc.. **Majority rule** bub!! …and if you dont like the rules and regulations and restrictions of the new 1 world government and if there is no Right to Bear Arms, then move out and go someplace else. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/70 "2010-10-04T22:53:12Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Moreover, no place on Earth has unlimited ability to accept and assimilate newcomers. There are limits to how many immigrants any society can tolerate and survive. With a 1 world government, there is no such thing as “immigration”. People can go anywhere they want to go. A 100 million chinese can pick up and go live in England if they want to. A million people from Africa can go move to Sweden, and all the mexicans can move to France if they so choose. We are all fellow citizens of the government of **the United States of Earth.** ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/71 "2010-10-04T23:29:53Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > I think the Chinese and Indians will like this given thier populations. As an example we have the International Cricket Council and it is dominated by India as it has the largest population and therefore the largest TV audience, because of this we see decisions made that are in the best interests of sub continent cricket and not always for global cricket. > > Oh and the right to bear arms, bloody hell I don’t want that in my country. YOu are forgetting that the new provinces previously called China and India will not have large populations. The people who now live in those countries will move out of them in the first few months of the new world government. The land area that used to be called China and India could very well be sparsely populated after just a couple of years. I would guess that the places with the best climates and the freshest waters of the world would become the most densely populated. As far as the the Right to Bear Arms, the people of American decent are never going to get rid of their guns, and there could never be a 1 world government without guns, so get used to it. And BTW, there is no such thing as “my country/your country”, there is only 1 world country. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/72 "2010-10-04T23:30:24Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > > [@sisu](#): > > > > Well OK New Zealand was the first at a federal level but South Australia beat them to the punch! Wow and the USA was 1920, bit slow. > > > > Remeber at the time we were both English colonies. > > …dude, your country has claimed Tim and Neil Finn, Phar Lap and the Pavlova. (You can keep Russell Crowe.) Don’t even think about claiming to be the first country to grant Universal Female Suffrage! 😃 Do you want Joh Beleke Peterson and Derryn Hinch back? please take them. OK OP: I would not be happy with a world constitution as it would be sooo watered down with so many loopholes you could use it like the Bible to justify anything. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/73 "2010-10-04T23:33:31Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > We are all fellow citizens of the government of **the United States of Earth.** Any problem with calling it **The People’s Republic of Earth**? ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/74 "2010-10-05T00:13:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Susanann](#): > > > > We are all fellow citizens of the government of **the United States of Earth.** > > Any problem with calling it **The People’s Republic of Earth**? can the President be “Our Gloriest Leader”? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/75 "2010-10-05T01:05:37Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > Any problem with calling it **The People’s Republic of Earth**? > > can the President be “Our Gloriest Leader”? I’m willing to compromise-how about “El Presidente”? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/76 "2010-10-05T02:05:36Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > > [@Susanann](#): > > > > There is no need for a “world” constitution. > > > > If you really do want to make the world better, all you gotta do is to get every nation in the world to adopt the United States Constitution and the United States Bill of Rights. This can easily be done… country by country. > > > > It would be very interesting to see Red China, England, Iran, Australia, etc etc etc all have women and blacks voting, the right to keep and bear arms, freedom from unreasonable search, right to a jury trial, etc. > > WTF? Just pointing out a few errors in regards to Australia: > > Women & blacks can vote. In fact Australia was the first place in the world to give women the vote. > You can have a gun in Australia, I have 4. Oh I can’t have a 50 caliber sniper rifle or and UZI. > You have a right to a Jury trial. > Freedom from unreasonable search, Police must have a valid reason to search you. > > There is no way that Australia would be a better country if we adopted the United States Constitution and the United States Bill of Rights. And believe me mate it would not be easy! What you have works? If it does, why WOULD you want to change it? It’s the same way here. What we Yanks has, works for us. I think the phrase is “don’t mess with success”? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/77 "2010-10-05T02:11:11Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > > [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > > > Isn’t the point of a world government that we would not need war anymore? > > No, it is not the point at all. > > Since more people die by the hand of their own governments ( Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mao’s Red China, Cambodia, black Africans, Australian aboriniginees, Native American Inidans, etc. etc. ) than by foreign armies, a 1 world government will not stop civilians from being masacreed. > > In fact, even more people might be murdered by the 1 world government than are murdered today by foreign invasions. That’s the thing I was talking about in one of my earliest posts in this thread. A tyrant or government out of control, can sometimes ONLY be stopped by an all out war against it. With a one world government, there is no power left to fight them and take them down (WAR). They can do what they want and get away with it. Who’s going to stop them? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/78 "2010-10-05T05:14:20Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > > [@Susanann](#): > > > > No, it is not the point at all. > > > > Since more people die by the hand of their own governments ( Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mao’s Red China, Cambodia, black Africans, Australian aboriniginees, Native American Inidans, etc. etc. ) than by foreign armies, a 1 world government will not stop civilians from being masacreed. > > > > In fact, even more people might be murdered by the 1 world government than are murdered today by foreign invasions. > > That’s the thing I was talking about in one of my earliest posts in this thread. A tyrant or government out of control, can sometimes ONLY be stopped by an all out war against it. With a one world government, there is no power left to fight them and take them down (WAR). They can do what they want and get away with it. Who’s going to stop them? Internal revolt obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/79 "2010-10-05T06:39:32Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > > [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > > > Disagree completely. There should be no limits on how long an individual can serve in government. If someone keeps getting elected, good for them. > > Good for them, bad for us. Term limits solve the issue of special interest groups and lobbyists nearly entirely. You can’t really get in bed with someone when the guard is changed consistently. It ensures that there will always be fresh minds and ideas entering into government which should alleviate generational problems and over conservative views upon new technologies. It means far more people from a wider range of backgrounds participate and contribute their ideas. It also at least helps the problem of political ill will standing in the way of progress. If you don’t have to worry about re-election constantly then you are more apt to do the responsible thing, which is not always the most popular. If you want direct democracy, then do so and have done with it. No they don’t. Getting rid of the Presidential system solves lobbyists and special interest groups entirely. These two “problems” nearly do not exist under the Westminster system, which doesn’t have term limits either. All the fuss over SIGs and lobbyists is a distinctly American phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801/80 "2010-10-05T06:56:11Z")
Curtis, IMHO, it is far, far more likely that there will be a World War in your life time than a world government. If there is ever a world government it is at least 100 years away if not more, assuming there is anyone left to rule over by then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-constitution/555801.md?page=5)