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WORLD CITIZEN LETTER: 574
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WCL 574 Nov 2007
How to get to a governed world
It will not be a tidy process, and it will not follow the lead of the 18th century British colonists who held formal and orderly meetings to decide upon a constitution. The world just ain't like that any more; and perhaps might not have been then if the danger of uppity blacks being aroused - and the native Indians who were soon to be conquered or exterminated.
Federalists have been almost bewitched by the success of the American federal constitution. It has led to the near-universal assumption that there is one ideal federal system and likewise one cardinal route to achieving it. We are now observing a very important alternative in the European Union's slow travel to a federation. There are certain principles to making a successful federation, but it is questionable whether the U.S.A. is a good example of those principles.
Human affairs are rarely tidy. Governments evolve out of the struggles by the subjects to subordinate others to the will of the majority - or of a different minority. In the process they sometimes change out of all recognition. Margaret Thatcher, no philosopher, once famously declared that England had had 700 years of democracy. In fact, the starting-point for English democracy was about 1830 with the Chartist movement and before that most Englishmen with any political power or influence scoffed at the idea of popular participation in government.
The essence of federalism is, above all, the division of power in order that all citizens can share it. A federation like the United States, where wealth has so corrupted the system that power is now highly concentrated, betrays its founding precepts. Does anyone imagine that members of the poor, or even the lower-middle class in the U.S, can have any share of power comparable to that of Warren Buffett or Bill Gates? Or any other billionaire? It is totally unbelievable. Nothing is less plausible.
The control of U.S. government by the wealthy began early. The successful 19th century bankers and monopolists who collected vast amounts of money from a rapidly expanding economy established dynasties of wealth. That pattern has been reproduced in several successive generations: the Rockefellers, the Roosevelts, the Morgans, the Kennedys and other families have insulated themselves against the vagaries of the capitalist market. As was memorably remarked: "Only little people pay taxes." Enron may show that being too greedy is a risk, but the majority of the billionaires play safer.
So if the preemptive federalist constitution cannot ensure the sharing of power that is its claim to existence, why should we imagine that the world can successfully pursue the same path with any greater chance of success? There will, for example, be greater dangers of military leaders taking illicit power, as has already happened in the U.S., where the 'imperial presidency' has collected enough power to distort the whole constitution.
Any idea that the world will commence its adherence to world law with a constitutional convention 'a la americaine' is utopian in the strict sense of coming nowhere. The human race, if it has time, will stumble into an acceptance of law by force of political circumstance, or perhaps as a result of great fear. That fear may come in 20 years time, as the effects of global warming and the loss of plant and animal species take hold. Argument may and in some cases has already convinced a few of the race: most will wait until the signs are inescapable.
The first need is for the creation of a sufficient number of convinced world citizens. Then the pressure on governments to cede power will begin to have effect. Not until that time will meaningful discussion and eventual negotiation take place. Most of the negotiators will talk in the style of the nationalist politicians who reluctantly feel compelled to change policies; but human nature being what it is, they will still be looking for allies and caballing with friends while trying to do down opponents. Only the terror of the oncoming climate changes will be likely to shift them into full-scale co-operation.
John Roberts
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