World Government—Why We Need It
THE idea of one government for the world often inspires either hope or horror. Hope because world government in the hands of the right person would unite humanity in peace. Horror because world government in the wrong hands would enslave all mankind. Since the stakes are so high, is the thought of world government worth serious consideration? Yes! We need world government. The following illustrates why.
● Her frail, stooped body shuffles along the darkened street. For the past 70 years she has often walked alone at night, but tonight is her last stroll. A teenage heroin addict, in desperate need of money to buy more imported drugs, robs her not only of her meager belongings but of her life as well. But the right kind of world government could halt the international smuggling of drugs and thereby curb crime.
● Fritz, although standing by the window, does not see the snow falling outside. He is deep in thought. Christmas used to be such a happy time for him and his sister. No more. A swath of death 835 miles long (1,344 km) runs as the border severing the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. Anyone who tries to sneak across that booby-trapped strip, with its barbed-wire fence and machine-gun-armed watchtowers, faces sure doom. But the right kind of world government could erase national boundaries and unite all peoples of the world.
● Near where the children play, raw sewage daily pours into a river. The children break out in foreboding, pus-filled pimples. In another part of the world, sulfur dioxide belches into the air from factories in one country and falls in the form of forest-destroying acid rain in another. But the right kind of world government could set up and enforce a world standard against harmful pollution.
● His pitiful eyes peer out at you from a face gaunt with hunger and set on a body languid and wasted. Just a few jet-hours away, granaries bulge with food. But the right kind of world government could pool food supplies and eliminate hunger.
● A 40-year-old father reads of the escalating nuclear arms race, thinks about his family’s future and shudders. His 12-year-old son reads about the effect of nuclear war and wonders if he will have a future. But the right kind of world government could eliminate the escalating stockpile of weapons and educate people in peace.
● She was only a baby. Ten cents’ worth of medicine would have cured her diarrhea, but it was unavailable. Why did she and 15,000,000 other children have to die last year when this and other afflictions could have been prevented by simple, low-cost methods? But the right kind of world government could summon a health program effective enough to blot out death from infection, disease and ignorance.
The list of grave problems in each country, including those that affect the lives of people in another country, could go on and on. Yet, they could all disappear if mankind worked unitedly under one government. But which political system has successfully risen to face these interlocking dilemmas that go begging for an equitable solution?