Dear Editor, (Washington Post never printed...)
Fareed Zakaria is a genius at explaining the basis of the
global insecurities we all face today and difficulties ahead. He appears however, to be blind to the fact
that most threats exist due to our unquestioned endorsement of humanities flawed global
governing system that puts the protection of national sovereignty above the
protection of human rights.
Those who first approved our US Constitution made the same catastrophic error. They codified states’ rights above the most basic human rights into our nations system of government. That horrific compromise nearly three centuries ago inevitably led to a civil war that killed more Americans than all the wars our nation has fought in since then, combined!
A massive blood loss that inspired Abraham Lincoln
to write that our nation’s founding document, the “Declaration of Independence”
is our “Apple of Gold”. And our
“constitution”, its “Frame of Silver” (a biblical reference). This may explain why the phrase “the Laws of
Nature and Nature’s God” are found in the first sentence of the Declaration. These two sets of laws providing profound logic for the best-known
phrase asserting that we are all created equal and endowed with certain
“inalienable rights”...and among them are the right to ‘life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.’
And after the horrors of World War II (the greatest loss of
human life from any war) humanity endorsed on the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights - idealizing a rationally sane path to “Never Again!” Unfortunately, those who created the UN made
a similar compromise establishing the protection of national sovereignty above
human rights. That clearly never worked.
Those who believe peace, freedom, security, and a
sustainable environment are possible under existing international law and the
US Constitution are simply delusional.
Both systems are based on an imaginary mental construct -‘independence’ - which exists nowhere in the known universe. Without our recognition that all of humanity is
connected and irreversibly interdependent – both human law systems doomed to fail.
The global eradication of smallpox (a virus that killed more humans than all of humanities wars, genocides, revolutions, and homicides combined) should have enlightened us to the need for a global approach.
While it is clear that nations will not give up their sovereignty (something that rightly belongs to individuals and not governments, kings, or dictators - it is possible for the business world to step in and invest in the protection of the most basic human rights-and the environment - by achieving the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
These goals represent the most comprehensive and holistic approach to undermining most of the global threats we face today. Indebted governments and charity won’t do it. And capitalism, to remain valid, must be about more than just making more profit. And investing in sustainable communities globally would be a wise use of any business's obscene profits.
Globalization is not going
away. But stable national governments
are. And without them, chaos and plunder will continue to rule the world.
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