Democracy v. Geocracy

The geocracy of nationalism can never achieve peace because it renders humanity less important than the dust from which we came.

There was a time when nationalism was a unifying force for humanity. That time has passed. We are a global community. We are globally interconnected and interdependent on almost every level, except politically. Our economies are global. Our communications can be instantaneously global. We are threatening our ecology on global levels. Etc. But we have not kept pace politically with these developments.

It's time to embrace a new self-evident truth: The only legitimate sovereignty is one that democratically enfranchises all of humanity.

In this millennium, nationalism is by its own limited nature terroristic. Nationalism is geographic in nature and, therefore, cannot be equally inclusive of all of God's children. If we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, then aren't we obliged to speak and work for the equal political enfranchisement of everyone?

It's time to expand our definition of terrorism. At this point in human history, terrorism exists whenever nationalist loyalties supersede our commitment to global democracy. Nationalism reserves the right to be violent with those who have no right to representation in the government that is committing acts of violence against them. Seeking to preserve the sovereignty of nations is rude and inappropriate behavior for those who claim to value democracy. The value of democracy is in its equal respect for all human beings. Nationalism limits this respect. Nationalism is inconsistent with the basic values inherent in democratic principles and it is most certainly inconsistent with the precept that all human beings are children of God.

Doesn't it seem strange that there is very little discussion about the creation of a global democracy from the vast majority of the world's political and spiritual leaders? Why aren't we talking about this? Doesn't it seem strange that the successes of the nonviolent movements led by Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are not being applied on a global scale? They proved that nonviolent social change movements win hearts and minds quickly and powerfully. Jesus led a spiritual movement that was global, but it was not political. Gandhi and King led political movements, but they were not global.

It's time for us to put all the pieces together and see the big picture. Being dedicated to establishing peace on earth peacefully will provide real security. Maybe the reason we don't have peace on earth is simply because we have never focused our efforts on creating a global democratic union.

There are many good ways to develop global democracy. If we put our heads and our hearts together, coming up with a creative solution will not be a problem-certainly no more problematic or challenging than what we are doing now. With today's computer technology it would be easy to create a redundant and independently verifiable system. What if we eliminated the costly and combative nature of elections by simply setting a minimum number of registered constituents in order to be a member of the governing congress? If a delegate registered double that amount, they would get two votes. Etc. This would help make sure that minorities would always have representation. And it would help allow the congress to run more efficiently by giving delegates the opportunity to represent larger blocks of the population based on their attractiveness to the citizenry.

What if presidents and cabinet members were elected from the congressional body and had to maintain their support in order to stay in office? Wouldn't that create working harmony within the branches of government? The crucial checks and balances would be maintained because delegates have to maintain the support of the constituents and the delegates would be responsible to the general population for creating a system that preserves checks and balances between the branches of government.

If we create a government that truly represents the people, we wouldn't need to live in fear of that government. By creating a democracy where votes for delegates are publicly counted and recorded, we could eliminate election fraud and minimize the instability that comes from changes in representation based on the calendar rather than on performance. By replacing competitive elections with the simple requirement to establish sufficient support for being a delegate, we could minimize the effect that money has on the democratic process. This in turn ensures that delegates are responsible to us based on head count, not wealth.

Let's not allow elitist, patronizing, and "the end will justify the means" positions lead us away from speaking and working for global democracy NOW! It's time to state the obvious clearly: If a majority is not empowered to handle community issues, then a minority is. This is true for every community, from the local level to the global level. Why should we trust a minority that breads suspicion about trusting the majority? This is what we already have and look what it has created and is creating.

Global democracy is far more promising than continuing the systems that have not been serving us effectively. Let’s create a form of government that is destined to last and that creates the basic foundation on which to build lasting peace. It’s time to call forth the best in humanity. It starts with our willingness to speak and work for global democracy. Accept no substitutes or excuses. We are the ones we have been waiting for. Peace is an idea and an ideal whose time has come.

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The preceding is not copyrighted. Feel free to change it in any way you want to make it your own or add your name to it if reflects your own heart and mind. I believe we need to upgrade the conversation about peace and democracy, and that this is a powerful tool to help do that. Please consider submitting it to media around the world. Feel free to get in touch if you want to create global democracy
Thank you.