Saturday, May 31, 2008

McCain's League of Democracies a good idea

I was reminded about how effing screwed we are when reading that a IAEA representative wasn't sure about Iran's nuclear intentions, downplaying the American and European concerns about Iran's drive to nuclear weapons. Where was this guy from? CUBA!. Like when we have travesties like someone from Sudan coming to the US to study our human rights, or an Algerian Judge dictating to us about our criminal courts, or Syria or Libya on the UN human right commission.

The UN is a flawed institution because it pretends to have global legitimiacy, but only have as much legitimacy as the Governments that comprise this Club of Governments. It's about time we cut through the blatant absurdity of bad bureacrats from non-democratic regimes telling us our business, yet we can't seem to either reform the UN enough, nor will simply leaving the UN solve the problem. McCain's League of Democracies may be just the ticket to open up the discussion of how to hold global governing bodies accountable to principles of freedom and democracy.

4 comments:

gary said...

I don't know the details of McCain's plan, but here's another you might want to consider...

www.UnitedDemocraticNations.org

Unlike the league, this would replace the UN.

gary

Anonymous said...

Great idea. I am all for replacing the UN if at all possible, but I'm realistic: Bureaucracies, like crabgrass, are impossible to kill.
The thought behind the UDN is a good one, and similar to what McCain is trying to do.

It should be constantly pointed out that Democratic Governments represent millions, non-democratic Government represent a handful of dictatorial elites. So I'm for a system that gives China 1 vote ... if USA gets 290 million.

gary said...

So I'm for a system that gives China 1 vote ... if USA gets 290 million.

Exactly!

My understanding is that the UN has become incredibly bureaucratic. One part of my proposal is that it not have a constantly moving headquarters. I figure that will keep the organization lean and not have the appearance of being "owned" by any one country.

gary

gary said...

(oops...type correction...I meant to say it wouldn't have a permanent headquarters, but rather a revolving one.)