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The WorldVoter
the newsletter of
Vote World Government
—  democratic world government through a global referendum  —
www.VoteWorldGovernment.org
Vote World Government President is Jim Stark; Vice President is Ted
Stalets
www.RescuePlanForPlanetEarth.com
This site, above, is for the new book Rescue Plan for Planet Earth:
Democratic Word Government through a Global Referendum

Issue #17, July, 2009
(This issue and all previous issues are posted at www.RescuePlanForPlanetEarth.com)

Quotes of the month

The global referendum on democratic world government is an excellent
initiative. World government is urgently needed to help solve the
global problems we can foresee, such as global warming and the
proliferation of nuclear weapons. Frank Barnaby, editor, The Gaia
Peace Atlas

Global problems—from climate change to nuclear proliferation—need
global solutions. Existing structures of international governance are
failing to deliver in these and other key areas, such as the
Millennium Development Goals. This suggests that a step change is
needed to create effective, legitimate and democratic global
governance. Such a development would need to be backed by decisive
support in a worldwide referendum open to all global citizens. Oliver
Tickell, author of Kyoto2: How to Manage the Global Greenhouse

I love the idea. I think you have a brilliant idea that bypasses
governments and puts the power in the hands of ordinary people. Mary-
Wynne Ashford, author (with Guy Dauncey) of Enough Blood Shed: 101
Solutions to Violence, Terror and War

All acts of creation begin with a single step. The creation of a
global referendum is a necessary first step in creating the political
will necessary to create a viable global government. Jerry Tetalman,
author (with Byron Belitsos) of One World Democracy: A Progressive
Vision for Enforceable Global Law

I hope my presidency will address what has become a universal clamor
all over the world for the democratization of the United Nations. I
promise to give full support to the working group on the
revitalization of the General Assembly. H.E. Miguel D’Escoto,
President of the General Assembly of the UN, June 2008

News in brief

Pope Benedict XVI urges a “true world political authority”

On July 7, 2009 New York Times reporters Rachel Donadio and Laurie

(For more, see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/world/europe/08pope.html?_r=2
or http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8019490.)

One must hope that these words will translate into some concrete
reality in the future, but past experience would suggest adopting a
position of cautious skepticism. Decades ago, Pope John XXIII stated
(in Pacem in Terris) that:

The common good of all nations involves problems which affect people
all the world over: problems which can only be solved by a public
authority … whose writ covers the entire globe. We cannot therefore
escape the conclusion that the moral order itself demands the
establishment of some sort of world government. (Emphasis added.)

Pope John Paul II said essentially the same thing, as follows:

The international community should support a system of laws to
regularize international relations and maintain the peace in the same
manner that law governs national order. (Emphasis added.)

The Catholic Church did little by way of visible action based on these
pronouncements in the past. On December 15, 2008 VWG wrote to Pope
Benedict XVI. We reminded him of these past statements and informed
him of our efforts to launch the global referendum on democratic world
government. We received no response other than an acknowledgement from
Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, to the
effect that he had received my letter and sent it on to the Pope.

The unofficial motto of civil society is “speak truth to power.”
Whatever else it may be, the Catholic Church possesses great Earthly
power. Surely it is not too much to ask that it respond one way or
another to our proposal.

Authors’ Campaign amounts to a “brain trust” – now to put it to work

Vote World Government is a tiny (i.e., no budget) nongovernmental
organization (NGO), yet it has somehow managed to assemble a brain
trust of 87 respected authors in support of its plan for a global
referendum on democratic world government (for the updated list, see
http://www.voteworldgovernment.org/authorscampaign.shtml).

Considering that scholars get their books or articles published only
if they say something different from all that has been written before
on their subject, it is rather astonishing that all these authors have
set aside their philosophical differences in order to support a global
referendum on the general goal of democratic world government. That
“setting aside” of disagreements was a condition for joining the list,
and it reflects well on the sincerity and intent of these scholars
that they can show such patience when most of them would likely have
preferred to jump into a lively debate about which conceptions of
democratic global governance are superior to which others.

However, as explained when this effort began, the opportunity for that
vital debate should arrive after it is clear that the referendum
ballot is passing strongly (assuming it does!), at which time the
question of how to implement such a global mandate can’t be ignored
any longer, and the anticipated clash of ideas will have real-world
consequences. In layman’s terms, if the human race votes (as we now
expect) strongly in favour of democratic world government, that
decision must stand, and a global conference of all stakeholders
(nation-states, NGOs, scholars, all major religions, etc.) must be
called to frame and craft a world constitution that applies democratic
principles to governance at the planetary level (which is not an easy
assignment).

In the meantime, the second phase of the Authors’ Campaign has begun.
This involves a search for NGOs and others (church congregations,
schools, unions, service clubs, etc.) who will commit to getting their
members to vote in the online global referendum (active ballot at
www.voteworldgovernment.org). On behalf of the authors in the
Campaign, we (volunteers at Vote World Government) will email as many
of the world’s two million (!) NGOs as is necessary to establish “Big
Mo” (momentum). Then we’ll try to convert that momentum into support
for a UN resolution for a formal global referendum, conducted nation
by nation in conjunction with national elections, to benefit from the
use of official voters’ lists and avoid voter fraud (for the wording
of that UN resolution as it stands now, see www.voteworldgovernment.org/draftUNresolution.pdf).
Participating nations would have all the online votes from their
citizens nullified, but online voting would, of course, continue for
the citizens of nations whose governments refused to participate.

Will this strategy work? We can’t be certain, but don’t bet against
it.

* * *

Author makes a very serious allegation, then can’t or won’t cite
sources

In the latter weeks of June, a strange email exchange took place
between VWG president Jim Stark and one of the authors that he had
invited to join our Authors’ Campaign. Here are the key elements of
the email exchange (we will not name the author because we have no
interest in embarrassing him or causing trouble for him at his place
of work):

Dear Jim Stark,

With respect in disagreement, there’s a substantial literature within
academic IR [international relations] that quite persuades me that any
attempt to form a world government is an excellent way to start the
third world war.

[author’s name]

* * * * *

Dear [author’s name]:

… our list of supporting authors includes a number of highly-regarded
IR scholars. Needless to say, they would be interested in your belief
that they will accomplish the opposite of their intentions and trigger
a WWIII by attempting to prevent it. Would you be kind enough to cite
some of the “substantial literature” that you referred to?

Sincerely,

Jim Stark,

* * * * *

Dear Mr. Stark,

Let’s disengage please.

[author’s name]

Jim had no wish to disrespect the man’s request to “disengage,” so he
did not write back. However, since October, 2006, Jim has kept a diary
of interesting or important events in VWG’s history, and this episode
is included in his diary entry for Sunday, June 28, 2009. The author
is named in the diary, which will eventually be excerpted and
published.

* * *

Concluding quotation