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World Government—Why We Need ItAwake!—1984 | December 22
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World Government—Why We Need It
THE idea of one government for the world often inspires either hope or horror. Hope because world government in the hands of the right person would unite humanity in peace. Horror because world government in the wrong hands would enslave all mankind. Since the stakes are so high, is the thought of world government worth serious consideration? Yes! We need world government. The following illustrates why.
● Her frail, stooped body shuffles along the darkened street. For the past 70 years she has often walked alone at night, but tonight is her last stroll. A teenage heroin addict, in desperate need of money to buy more imported drugs, robs her not only of her meager belongings but of her life as well. But the right kind of world government could halt the international smuggling of drugs and thereby curb crime.
● Fritz, although standing by the window, does not see the snow falling outside. He is deep in thought. Christmas used to be such a happy time for him and his sister. No more. A swath of death 835 miles long (1,344 km) runs as the border severing the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. Anyone who tries to sneak across that booby-trapped strip, with its barbed-wire fence and machine-gun-armed watchtowers, faces sure doom. But the right kind of world government could erase national boundaries and unite all peoples of the world.
● Near where the children play, raw sewage daily pours into a river. The children break out in foreboding, pus-filled pimples. In another part of the world, sulfur dioxide belches into the air from factories in one country and falls in the form of forest-destroying acid rain in another. But the right kind of world government could set up and enforce a world standard against harmful pollution.
● His pitiful eyes peer out at you from a face gaunt with hunger and set on a body languid and wasted. Just a few jet-hours away, granaries bulge with food. But the right kind of world government could pool food supplies and eliminate hunger.
● A 40-year-old father reads of the escalating nuclear arms race, thinks about his family’s future and shudders. His 12-year-old son reads about the effect of nuclear war and wonders if he will have a future. But the right kind of world government could eliminate the escalating stockpile of weapons and educate people in peace.
● She was only a baby. Ten cents’ worth of medicine would have cured her diarrhea, but it was unavailable. Why did she and 15,000,000 other children have to die last year when this and other afflictions could have been prevented by simple, low-cost methods? But the right kind of world government could summon a health program effective enough to blot out death from infection, disease and ignorance.
The list of grave problems in each country, including those that affect the lives of people in another country, could go on and on. Yet, they could all disappear if mankind worked unitedly under one government. But which political system has successfully risen to face these interlocking dilemmas that go begging for an equitable solution?
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World Government—What Are the Obstacles?Awake!—1984 | December 22
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World Government—What Are the Obstacles?
WOVEN through history are a thousand ideas of what a good government should be, from the Li (the rationalized social order) of Confucius to concepts promoted at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington, D.C., whence the United Nations sprang. But whose ideas about government can work on a global scale?
The world is made up of more than 150 nations, each with its own way of governing. Many of those governments are aligned with one or the other of the two major political ideologies competing for world supremacy. A large number of people, though, have lost confidence in both of them. Neither has solved the major problems of the world. Rather, because of their rivalry, the world has become more unstable and frightening. Space-age technology has greatly added to the concern.
An Interdependent Society
If space-age technology has taught us only one thing about our planet Earth, it is this: Life is interconnected, from the tiniest one-celled creature to the most complex; practically everything is related to everything else. Alexander Pope, the famous English poet, in An Essay on Man (1733-34), described this relationship between all things as a “Vast chain of Being! which from God began.”
The principle is true of nations as well. They are interdependent. There is perhaps no country, not even an island, that can operate independently in today’s shrinking world. One country’s demand for petroleum, for example, is dependent on another country’s ability to produce petroleum for export. And, like a chain reaction, a country’s access or lack of access to petroleum often moves many seemingly unrelated industries—cosmetics, plastics, pharmaceuticals—to hire or lay off workers.
Or compare the nations of the northern hemisphere with those of the southern hemisphere. The northern has one fourth of the world’s population but owns nine tenths of its manufacturing industries and is paid four fifths of its income. Yet, the economies of both hemispheres are linked. For example, in just one country, the United States, one job in 20 is connected to supplying goods to countries of the southern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere is dependent upon the southern for raw materials used in computers, radios, televisions and military equipment. But the basic needs of food, water, shelter, jobs, health care, education and sanitation are much more available in the northern hemisphere than in most countries in the southern.
For a world government to work, it must understand that such things as poverty, unemployment, pollution and the nuclear dilemma are like interlocking pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. They cannot be solved separately. They must all be solved together or not at all. Historian William McNeill observed: “When and whether a transition will be made from a system of states to an empire of the earth is the gravest question humanity confronts.”
Yet most nations act as if they were tribes ruled by chieftains, with no truly workable concept of global responsibility for economic and social development. Willy Brandt, former chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, recently stated in World Press Review: “In our modern world, mass hunger, economic stagnation, environmental catastrophe, political instability, and terrorism cannot be quarantined within national borders.” One nation’s problems, in fact, can affect the stability of the whole world.
What Is Needed
For a world government to work, it must be able to mobilize the world’s physical and human resources to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. In a number of countries, a person’s overwhelming concern is the hunt for food, water and shelter for just that day. Without a person’s basic needs being satisfied, the body and the mind are straitjacketed and the spirit is stripped of self-respect.
If a world government is to work, it must be capable of diminishing the gap in the living standards between rich and poor countries. “There is enough wealth for everyone,” says noted French editor André Fontaine, “if only we would use it for the benefit of mankind.” The wealth of the prosperous nations has not trickled down to the poor. The poor have become poorer. Note from the accompanying chart how many of earth’s population lack basic needs.
For a world government to work, it must be just and not favor people living in one part of the world over those living in another part. To whom can we turn for a world rule that can and will serve for all mankind’s benefit? To humans?
[Chart on page 6]
People Who Lack Basic Needs
—Undernourished 510 million
—Adults Illiterate 800 million
—Children Not in School 250 million
—No Access to Health Care 1,500 million
—Life Expectancy Below 60 Year 1,700 million
—Inadequate Housing 1,030 million
—Less Than $90 (U.S.) per Year Income 1,300 million
Source: Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Sciences
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World Government—How It Will Be RealizedAwake!—1984 | December 22
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World Government—How It Will Be Realized
SINCE 1945 three major international organizations have been formed to keep world peace: the UN (United Nations) in 1945, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact (Warsaw Treaty Organization) in 1955. Not one has made major progress toward global peace. As a matter of fact, since 1945 the world has been rocked by more than 100 armed conflicts, including 40 major wars, which have slaughtered more than 30 million people, and it is now tottering on the brink of a nuclear fire storm.
Despite the sincerity of its supporters, the UN has proved to be toothless. The other two organizations have experienced wrangling among their member nations. While countries of NATO and the Warsaw Pact point their sinister nuclear missiles at one another, and their citizens nervously pray that these will never be launched, the UN sits embroiled in debates as to who is to blame for the arms race. If your trust is in these human institutions to unite the earth in peace, it is misplaced. All of them have dangerous flaws, some of which are more visible than others.
But suppose there was a ruler who was just and compassionate, who understood the principle of biological interdependence and had the means to unite the world in peace. Would he not be able to bring about a successful world government? Of course! But where can we find such a ruler?
The Incoming World Government
The Creator of the heavens and the earth, Jehovah God, intimately knows the interconnections of all things, animate and inanimate. It was, in fact, because of his will that “they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) He, obviously, is above petty nationalism; “in the heavens is his throne.”—Psalm 11:4.
Moreover, Jehovah God has declared himself concerned about the problem of world government and has selected a tested, proven and perfect administrator as King. This One is superhuman, yet related to all mankind—his Son, Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 5:7-10) Some may laugh at the idea of Christ as Ruler, as a real King. Why?
Well, many people imagine Jesus either as a cuddly baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger or as a pitiful creature nailed to a cross. In both cases he is seen as helpless. But is either of these a true picture of Jesus today?
No! Jesus Christ is a very much alive Prince, being the Son of the Almighty King, Jehovah God. Jehovah gave him rulership and authority. The ancient Bible prophecy foretold: “The princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called . . . Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) This prophecy was fulfilled when, after his death on a stake at Calvary, Jesus was raised to heavenly life. Eventually, in heaven, he was enthroned as God’s King.—Acts 2:22-36; Revelation 19:16; 20:6.
So Jesus no longer resembles a helpless babe or a vulnerable victim. He is God’s reigning King! Already more than two and a half million people, living in the four corners of the earth, willingly submit to his rulership. They are living testimony that it really does work. Soon Christ will be used by God to bring peace to all the earth and unite mankind under his righteous rulership.—Isaiah 11:1-9.
What One Rule Will Do for Earth
World rule by Jehovah God through his Son, Jesus Christ, will successfully overcome all obstacles. Righteous-hearted mankind will experience a global change based on genuine caring for one another.
‘Can people really change?’ some may ask. Yes, people can and do change their beliefs, if there is a powerful enough motivation.
Imagine a world where knowledge of technology will be used to advance human society in a good way because that knowledge is tempered with genuine concern for others and for the rest of creation!
Imagine a world where there will be no fear of war, ever again. Instead, all earth’s resources will be put exclusively to peaceful use.
‘Stop there!’ some may shout. ‘That’s just old religious twaddle.’ To those who raise this objection, we ask: Has man’s rule worked? Can you point to sound reasons for believing that it ever will? If not, then why not at least seriously examine the Bible to see what one government by God would do for earth and if it could work?
The following are some more changes God’s rule promises to bring to the earth.
[Box/Pictures on page 8, 9]
Food for All:
“There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.”—Psalm 72:16.
Housing and Work for All:
“They will certainly build houses and have occupancy . . . and the work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full.”—Isaiah 65:21, 22.
Good Health for All:
“And no resident will say: ‘I am sick.’”—Isaiah 33:24.
Full Disarmament:
“He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth. The bow he breaks apart and does cut the spear in pieces; the wagons he burns in the fire.”—Psalm 46:9.
Peace Earth Wide:
“In his days the righteous one will sprout, and the abundance of peace until the moon is no more.”—Psalm 72:7.
[Box on page 9]
Some may feel that these are simplistic answers to multidimensional problems—a Utopian dream. Again, we ask: Realistically, do you believe man will solve these problems? Or would not man’s Creator be the only one with the ability to do this? We invite you to examine the Bible carefully to learn what more than two million people already have proved for themselves—that God’s rule works!
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