troll - "Should the U.N. run the whole show (the world)?"

I don't think that anyone should "run the world", but I do think that eventually a world assembly of nations should do the following:

1. establish a worldwide Bill of Rights, which would guarantee human rights in much the way the the Bill of Rights does in the USA or the Charter of Rights does in Canada, etc...

2. establish a worldwide system of economic justice such that: people get paid at basically the same approximate level for doing basically the same level of work. What do I mean? If a factory worker in the USA gets US $20/hour and one in China gets US 50 cents per hour, that is unjust in the extreme, and it leads to...

a) loss of traditional jobs in the USA

b) semi-enslavement of people in places like China

c) desperate attempts to emigrate to richer places by the poor in the poor countries, causing all manner of disturbance and suffering and graft

Until people in all parts of the world get a decent level of pay, there is no economic justice, and there will be great strife.

3. Establish a World Court to resolve international disputes. This has been attempted, but when the World Court rules against a powerful country like the USA, they are routinely ignored.

Thus...

4. There has to be a World Military authority of some kind to enforce international law, and it cannot be merely a coalition patched together on an adhoc basis by the richest, most powerful country, to serve its own interests. It has to be composed of enough non-aligned countries that it represents broader viewpoints, not parochial ones.

5. The above is not possible when certain great powers are armed to the teeth, such that the World Assembly is utterly weak in comparison. That is the present situation. It's actually anarchy out there, with rule by the robber barons. The USA is the biggest robber baron, but there are several others as well.

6. None of this is possible at this point, because there is not the will, at the highest levels of power, to actually do it.

7. However, some efforts have been made in these directions and will continue to be made.

8. There has to be a general disarmament of all nations to a great extent, but there isn't yet the will to do that either.

The fact is, we are still in a very immature state of social development, crippled by greed and fear.

So, given present conditions...no, I don't think the U.N. should run "the whole show", because they simply can't...but efforts should be made toward a more united and cooperative world, with a great deal more equality (specially on the economic level), and with plenty of local and regional autonomy at the same time, on a democratic basis. People cannot be forced to do things like this, they must be willing to and they must want to. Otherwise, it just won't work.

And with that I say...good night.

- LH