July 2, 2002

Editorial Column by Mike Schiller, author of "Created Equal"
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Text & photo (c) 2001-2002 Mike Schiller

The Infancy Of International Democracy
by Mike Schiller

With the creation of the International Criminal Court, the United Nations has taken an important step toward a world society in which the rights of all human beings are equally protected. There is much more to do, but the first step has been taken. As our global criminal justice system emerges in its infancy, we are reminded of both how far the human race has come, and how far we still need to go. The United Nations will need to be able to enforce the laws it passes, and the United States would be well positioned to offer assistance. We cannot and must not act unilaterally on global issues. We should join in the effort to help the United Nations mature into a true global governing body.

A formal global senate, and global congress, with designates selected directly through each country's electoral system, must be formed. A Global Prime Minister should also be elected via world popular vote. Each nation should retain its sovereignty in local electoral matters, but they will need to take on the literal meaning of states- independent components of a larger unit. If one looks merely at the history it is easy to see that a planetary government, one which operates on the principles of democracy, has always been inevitable.

The United States should recognize reality and help shape this global government as it is formed. The United Nations must also recognize the realistic direction things are heading for, and establish enforcement agencies around the world. A Global Bureau of Investigation should be formed to investigate the types of crimes which would warrant prosecution in the International Criminal Court. Additionally, the UN must expand its current forces of peacekeeping troops to include a Global Military force controlled exclusively by the International Government, which could not be deployed without approval from the International House Of Representatives and International Senate, as well as the World Prime Minister.

We also need to establish a civil International Supreme Court, and a new, more elaborate International Constitution. The International Constitution would provide the basis for judging whether a nation's laws were acceptable by international standards. Cruel or unusual laws could be struck down by the International Supreme Court. There should also be a modest international tax code established, though which nations pay direct sums to the UN, and in return, the UN would be able to use some of those funds to provide emergency social services to struggling economies, including our own US economy. The UN should be able to directly subsidize schools, poverty assistance programs, affordable housing, infrastructure improvements, and issue resolutions ordering governments to change policies where national policies can be deemed responsible for that nation's economic hardships. This is why the US should take an active role in the shaping of these developments. It will only be a matter of time before they are developed, with or without our help.

We should support the development of global democracy, because the world needs it. We may occasionally be tempted to feel that as the world's first democracy, we do not need to expand democracy to include all nations in it. That would be both selfish and unrealistic. Democracy will expand with or without our help, and as the world's first democracy we have a responsibility and a moral obligation to participate in the expansion and definition of a concept we invented ourselves.

Additionally, the US has paved the way for these very developments by promoting globalization. You cannot create a global economy without creating a global government. Anyone who supports economic globalization but opposes global government would have to be oblivious to the needs created by economic globalization. Globalization cannot and must not be a strictly business-oriented development. Global Trade cannot function without Global Government. If a true world government were not formed, globalization would only serve the interests of those who wish to exploit weak nations. That, of course, couldn't possibly be what pro-globalization advocates want to see happen. Why would any human being want to see fellow human beings suffer at the hands of strangers? Globalization is, after all, a noble cause, so the nobility of it must be enforced through global democracy.

Global Democracy will make Global Trade possible and functional. It be the unification of all people, in all nations, and it is the ultimate answer to our question of how terrorism is to be ended and prevented once and for all.

Mike Schiller is the author of "Created Equal?" a poem about the denial of marriage rights to gays and lesbians. He has completed his first book, "Sentences I Freed From The Ropes They Tried To Weave Around Me." due out this spring. He also runs a successful poetry web site, www.mikeschiller.com , which currently averages over 3,000 visitors per month.

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