# Would You Support A One World Government **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 15, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855 "2009-10-15T01:54:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/61 "2009-10-15T19:17:54Z")
To paraphrase General Grant: Stop thinking about what they’re going to do to you and start thinking about what you’re going to do to them. Iran, North Korea, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, nobody benefits more from the absense of a one-world government more than these folks. If we prefer the world this way, then fine. We live in “interesting” times, so who am I to complain? I just can’t help thinking back to the rhetoric of the Bushies in the wake of 9/11 who acted like the US can be the world’s government all by itself. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/62 "2009-10-15T19:23:20Z")
Put the question another way: What if the US Constitution applied to the entire world? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/63 "2009-10-15T19:26:54Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > I just can’t help thinking back to the rhetoric of the Bushies in the wake of 9/11 who acted like the US can be the world’s government all by itself. If some folks hate the USA for running around the world, fucking things up, and sticking their nose where it doesnt belong… Again I ask, you gonna like it when the automatically great and benign world government does the same thing ? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/64 "2009-10-15T19:28:19Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Put the question another way: What if the US Constitution applied to the entire world? That would be great. Any reason we cant do it nation by nation? Why do we need a world government to accomplish this ? ---
**Author:** ![A.Selene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@A.Selene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Selene)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/65 "2009-10-15T19:31:27Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, more likely they’d have _ **real** _ “drag down knock out fights”, with guns and tanks instead of arguments in Congress. Or just having to suffer due to the behavior of their neighbor; such as an upstream state deciding to take all the water from a river parching the states downstream of it. Or dumping toxic waste into it and rendering it unusable. Given the “I’ve got mine screw the rest of humanity” attitude common in America I don’t see the states being able to get along in a civilized fashion without the federal government keeping them under control. Good point **Der**. But isn’t it possible to envision a system in which the states were bound to not protect their shared environment through some oversight by the limited powers of the Fed, but were free to experiment with social and economic policies? Yes, some states might stumble and make poor choices, but isn’t that better than having the entire country stuck with the poor choices made in DC? It doesn’t need to be all or nothing here. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SmartAlx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlx)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/66 "2009-10-15T20:09:54Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Iran, North Korea, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, nobody benefits more from the absense of a one-world government more than these folks. Do you really think that people like that will recognize a global authority? People and movements will always seize power. A global government won’t stop that. It’s kind of like that stupid “If guns were made illegal the only people who had guns would be criminals” saying. If a global government ruled over everyone the only people to have local power would be the dictators. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/67 "2009-10-15T20:10:29Z")
> [@A.Selene](#): > > Good point **Der**. But isn’t it possible to envision a system in which the states were bound to not protect their shared environment through some oversight by the limited powers of the Fed, but were free to experiment with social and economic policies? Yes, some states might stumble and make poor choices, but isn’t that better than having the entire country stuck with the poor choices made in DC? It doesn’t need to be all or nothing here. They are going to affect each other anyway; problems don’t necessarily stop at borders. And a weak federal government isn’t going to have the power to enforce something like environmental laws. And your scheme won’t make the corporations any weaker; quite the opposite since it is easier for them to dominate a state instead of the federal government; and they won’t WANT any protection of the environment or any of those pesky civil rights. Your plan would lessen the influence of democracy and reduce civil rights and the general welfare. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/68 "2009-10-15T20:15:37Z")
A one world government would probably be the only way to truly abolish the [sweatshop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_shops). Free trade causes a “race to the bottom” where corporations build factories where it is cheapest. If the World Government mandated that all employers pay a living wage (based upon the local purchasing power), we could improve those conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/69 "2009-10-15T20:18:07Z")
I think a one-world government of some sort is both necessary and inevitable in the long run. More and more problems simply cannot be dealt with purely at the national level. Some methods of dealing with these issues already exist in the form of international organizations such as the UN, the WTO, the World Bank, the International Criminal Court, as well as smaller multi-national organizations like NATO, OPEC, the G-8, etc. The treand over the past hundred years or so is for more of these super-powers (in the original sense) to exist and to take on more power over more issues. I think it is inevitable that as the world continues to shrink and nations begin working together on more and more issues like global warming, international trade, the Internet, etc., that more formalized structures will come into place to establish and enforce agreements between countries. I _don’t_ think that this will necessarily look anything like the US or even the EU, or that it should. For those who object that countries like China and North Korea will have too much power, keep in mind that those countries _already_ make decisions that we have to live with the effects of. If NK succedes in getting nuclear weapons, it won’t just be its own citizens that have to worry. If China continues to increase its rate of carbon emissions, the rest of the world will have to do something about it. I, for one, believe that these issues - indeed _all_ issues - are better dealt with through the rule of law than through the rule of arms. It is true that a single super-government would perpetuate and legitimize some injustices and create new ones. International opinion, IMO, is too harsh on Israel (just as I think US opinion is too supportive), for example, and according to the new book _The Clinton Tapes_, European and UN opinion on ethnic cleansing in Bosnia was appalling. (Most European ministers and then-UN Sec. Gen. Boutros Boutros-Ghali thought that a Muslim nation within Europe was “unnatural” and illegitimate.) Nevertheless, I believe that if the UN as it is now composed had its own military/police force that it could direct without the explicit permission of its member states (just as both US regular army and state National Guard units can be mobilized without permission of the individual US states)–one, say, with the same resources as the combined militaries of the EU–and the independance to actually use it, that there would be less bloodshed and war than there is now. Government–at whatever level–doesn’t prevent injustice, it merely provides a method of dealing with it other than having the aggrieved parties fight directly between themselves. Sometimes that method is to have the party in power crush the party not in power, but in a working liberal government, it usually means filing papers is preferential to firing bullets. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/70 "2009-10-15T20:31:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Dictators tend to have more experience because they don’t have to worry about re-election. I don’t see that as a virtue in their favor. Hu is many things, he is a boring technocrat but he is not a dictator anymore then Obama is. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/71 "2009-10-15T20:43:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > You know, no government in history has ever been organized on a “Love it or leave it!” principle; that leaving sometimes has been a realistic option is incidental and irrelevant. But when leaving is not an option, things can become unstable. The East German Communist government collapsed just days after they screwed up and announced that people were allowed to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/72 "2009-10-15T20:47:28Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Worldwide direct democracy is the only model of world government I can see myself supporting. I used to think direct democracy was a great idea until I moved to California. The propositions give us this more than most states, and it is a disaster, since subtle and complex issues shouldn’t be decided on the basis of 30 second ads. Politics and economic policy are skills - I’d no more want the masses to decide them without experts mediating than I would want the people in the waiting room at my doctors office voting on my treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/73 "2009-10-15T20:53:35Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Put the question another way: What if the US Constitution applied to the entire world? Bingo. Once we get to the point where the world is mature enough to switch governments peacefully, something like the Constitution would be perfect. A world government needs to stop a country like China from spewing enough waste to pollute the air in California. It would require a big change in attitude - basically the entire world would have to consider the girl in Bangladesh to be every much a person deserving a good life as the girl in Beverly Hills. It might take a while. But consider what we could do with the money not spent on the military (above the need for a Martian defense force, that is.) We could improve infrastructure, control floods, improve health and agriculture, and have enough left over to really get us into space. And, we could probably get a tax cut too to make the conservatives happy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/74 "2009-10-15T20:54:56Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I used to think direct democracy was a great idea until I moved to California. The propositions give us this more than most states, and it is a disaster, since subtle and complex issues shouldn’t be decided on the basis of 30 second ads. Politics and economic policy are skills - I’d no more want the masses to decide them without experts mediating than I would want the people in the waiting room at my doctors office voting on my treatment. Speaking as a Californian I agree. The average person doesn’t have a specialized education in law and economics, nor do they have a staff with which to deal with such things. ---
**Author:** ![A.Selene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@A.Selene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Selene)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/75 "2009-10-15T21:13:28Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They are going to affect each other anyway; problems don’t necessarily stop at borders. Of course not. 😛 Which is why I said: > [@A.Selene](#): > > But isn’t it possible to envision a system in which the states were bound to not protect their **shared environment** through some oversight by the limited powers of the Fed… > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And a weak federal government isn’t going to have the power to enforce something like environmental laws. If that is one of its defined purposes and powers, as I mentioned up thread, of course it is going to have the power to enforce those laws. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Your plan would lessen the influence of democracy and reduce civil rights and the general welfare. It would in fact increase the influence of democracy, as more decisions would be made closer to home. I’m not sure how you came to the conclusion of a reduction of civil rights or the general welfare; I imagine those would only be improved in such a society. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And your scheme won’t make the corporations any weaker; quite the opposite since it is easier for them to dominate a state instead of the federal government; and they won’t WANT any protection of the environment or any of those pesky civil rights. Antitrust laws cannot exist in this alternate reality? I am well aware of the limitations of what I am suggesting, but you don’t need ignore what I am writing or make things up to argue your side. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/76 "2009-10-15T21:17:13Z")
Absolutely NO CHANCE I would ever support a one-world government. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/77 "2009-10-15T21:28:21Z")
Can it be Zionist-occupied? It damn well better be Zionist-occupied or no deal. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/78 "2009-10-15T21:31:45Z")
nobody actually believes global government is the way to go do they? there should be polls on these types of lopsided debates so we can filter out the truly ridiculous topics. 1. world government != free trade. states have the right to levy taxes, embargo goods, or even refuse access to roads passing through their state. (case in point, transfer of nuclear waste through SC a few years back). 2. direct democracy on a global scale is logistically impossible, as of right now anyway. as of… any time in the forseeable future. 3. if you think pork is bad now, exponentialize it. your tax dollars will be going towards building bullet trains in Cairo. how do you feel about that? 4. most of us will be in the top 5% tax bracket. so, either we give up 3/5 of our paychecks directly to the government, or we complicate the tax code to the extent that the IRS becomes a bureaucracy so massive it becomes a parody of itself. income tax, flat tax, consumption tax, trickle up the taxes from state-by-state tribute, etc. it will be messy no matter what. 5. immigration. 6. secession. the federalism of the government would be so weak that the global power would have little power. it’s a catch 22. give the federal government lots of power, then the problems of immigration, taxation, electoral reform, etc. grow. temper the problems of immigration, taxation, election reform by spreading the responsibilities to the states and you give the states too much power and inevitably the rich states would say, screw you zimbabwe, i’m out. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/79 "2009-10-15T21:32:48Z")
> [@A.Selene](#): > > It would in fact increase the influence of democracy, as more decisions would be made closer to home. I’m not sure how you came to the conclusion of a reduction of civil rights or the general welfare; I imagine those would only be improved in such a society. Probably the biggest force in favor of civil rights and the general welfare has been the federal government. In your world the South would likely still practice segregation or outright slavery, for example. > [@A.Selene](#): > > If that is one of its defined purposes and powers, as I mentioned up thread, of course it is going to have the power to enforce those laws. No, it won’t. The mostly-independent states would ignore any such laws it passed. Your version of the federal government would exist largely on sufferance, and personally I doubt it would last. > [@A.Selene](#): > > Antitrust laws cannot exist in this alternate reality? No, since the federal government would be too weak to enforce them. > [@pancakes3](#): > > 1. immigration. Immigration into a world state is likely to be fairly small. Until the Martians show up at least. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855/80 "2009-10-15T21:36:15Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Can it be Zionist-occupied? It damn well better be Zionist-occupied or no deal. I could sleep on your couch if you want. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-support-a-one-world-government/513855.md?page=5)