I think two weeks of character-building is probably enough, so this week it’s time for something with a little more substance.
Elmira Independent reporter Chuck “Smooth K” Kuepfer (as we call him around the office) and I were chatting the other day about globalization and its current effects on the newspaper industry for one.
The globalization of the world’s economy has been good for some and bad for others — the bad effects we’ve seen all around our local areas as businesses close or lay-off workers left and right.
The debate on the world’s new economics, the causes and effects, will rage on. And while I’m interested in the debate, it’s practically pointless now to discuss why the world became flat. Now the question should be one of direction — something we’re sorely lacking in our global community is community leadership.
I think this has been highlighted by the recent tragedy in Haiti. Within hours news of the quake and devastation left in its wake had spread around the planet, and not just by the old conventional means. Which brings me to a quick digression — how long will it take before Facebook and Twitter are considered standard ways of disseminating info, as opposed to being “new”?
But as for knowing what was going to be done about it, as far as cleaning up and getting Haiti back on its feet — who knows? How much of the foreign aid is going to get where it needs to go? Four years ago, Haiti earned first-place out of 163 nations surveyed on the Corruption Perceptions Index, a measure of perceived political corruption. The International Red Cross reported Haiti was 155th of 159 countries in a similar survey. More recently, in 2008, Haitian parliament voted to dismiss the Prime Minister due to rioting over food prices; his chosen replacement was rejected by parliament, leaving the country in political turmoil without an official government.
Certainly there are groups, like Red Cross, with branches around the world and the best of intentions who can be trusted with funds to do the right thing. But at the end of the day, it’s not a government agency.
So that’s what I’d like to see in our world without borders — a world with one government. Star Trek was well ahead of its time, seeing the earth as one member of the Galactic Federation of Planets — perhaps this time has actually arrived. Individual nations would still have their own government, like individual towns and municipalities do now. It would just mean adding one more layer on top of the pecking order.
How much easier would it be to mobilize the money and human resources needed to tackle the work to be done in Haiti if it were coming from one office?
It could also have the effect of mitigating damages done to the various economies of the world. When looked at as one, truly global economy, an individual country’s selfish motives disappear. One minimum wage for all, planet-wide, regardless of age, sex or location... and while we’re at it, one minimum age requirement for workers, too. Jobs and businesses would go where the resources required were best met, not just cheapest.
In my opinion, a real World Government could also get to work on nations like Haiti, helping build infrastructure and feed people before a massive disaster takes things past the point of disastrous.