Creating an International Political Party - Part I (Current Trends)
This is a three part series on creating a world political party. Part I discusses how current trends in the world are ideal for the creation of a world party. Part II discusses the structure of the party and Part III expands on ideology and platforms.
Creating an International Political Party Part I
Creating an International Political Party Part II
Creating an International Political Party Part III
As we become more globalized, is it time that the citizens of the world created a worldwide political party? Such parties exist in Europe, for example, under the umbrella of the EU. There are loose associations between the European wide Christian Democratic parties, Socialist parties and Green Parties. But there is no real sense of a truly international party, it is more like an association of like minded parties, but the membership is definitely national.
The democracies of the world have been able to reach very high levels of prosperity, especially since the end of the Second World War, but unfortunately the prosperity of the non-democratic countries has lagged tremendously. The most blatant examples are in Latin America and Eastern Europe. Countries like Argentina, Mexico, Ukraine or even Russia, when one takes into consideration the amount of natural and human resources; the only explanation for the gap in development with other nations is political.
Many have wondered at the tremendous economic success of the United States. Students from the United States are certainly no where near the top of the any ranking of curriculum.
The Washington Post reported “The scores from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment showed that U.S. 15-year-olds trailed their peers from many industrialized countries. The average science score of U.S. students lagged behind those in 16 of 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that represents the world's richest countries. The U.S. students were further behind in math, trailing counterparts in 23 countries.”
Clearly people in the United States are not better prepared than there counterparts, nor more talented. The secret to the incredible and enduring prosperity of the United States is very simple but often overlooked. The key to American prosperity is the tremendously strong, almost sacred democratic institutions that have guaranteed the supremacy of constitutional rights over those of any person or party. The United Kingdom demonstrated the superiority of these institutions in the nineteenth-century as the United States had done in the 20th. And as these two nations spread their ideals through Western Europe,Japan and Korea, prosperity has followed.
It is no surprise that when the United States denied some groups within its borders the full value of these democratic rights, the economic prosperity of these groups lagged substantially behind the majority. In Great Britain, the example of Ireland stands out. Where and when legal rights where denied, Ireland remained economically backward. Curiously, now that Republic of Ireland is a full member of the EU and a strongly democratic country, its per-capita GDP is actually significantly higher than that of the United Kingdom.
But there has never been the need or the desire to carry these values into the international arena. What was sacred at home was not considered crucial when dealing with other nations. In the case of the United States, suffice to look at its relationship with Iran, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Chile, Vietnam, Guatemala or Nicaragua to see how little it valued sound democratic principles when dealing abroad. The example of Iran is particularly interesting, as the United States continually disregarded the democratic movements in Iran. Imagine Iran today if the United States had supported the same values in Iran that it does at home?
The Israeli example is perhaps the most blatant. Palestinians are not considered worthy of the same rights as Jews or Americans, all in an effort to safeguard Israeli prosperity. It seems the lesson is never learned, the key to security is prosperity, and the key to prosperity is sound democratic institutions.
More than any other media, the internet has given citizens of the world the possibility to freely communicate with each others and share information, data and media. One of the major benefits of the emergence of the English language as the ‘de facto’ international language is that, joined with the internet, we have now practically overcome almost all the political and economic barriers to people communicating with each other. Basic english skills and access to a PC and the internet, and one can communicate with the world. Isn’t it time that we began to use the internet as a tool for world unity?
The economics barriers to creating a world political party are miniscule. With a few thousand US Dollars, a robust website with an email and chat platform could be created while leavinge the marketing to buzz. If the message is right, viral marketing will take the parties platform to all ends of the earth, and create a vital force to change the world, for practically nothing.
What do most of the people want in the world? The Financial Times will tell you they want mobile phones or BMW’s. But the truth is, most people want a safe, clean, comfortable place to live with running water, food, clothes, safe and accessible education for their children and healthcare. Imagine a world political party that said the number one priority for all the world is that everyone has these things. Before one more fighter plane is built, before one more Mercedes rolls off the assembly line, every human deserves a clean bed, food, clothes, medical care, and education for their children. Maybe in the past it was difficult to imagine the world as one family; the obstacles between countries and peoples were tremendous. But now we are truly one.
Can you imagine a family, living in a beautiful house, where some members sleep in the bushes, some on the floor in the kitchen while others sleep comfortably in the master bedroom under clean cotton sheets? We are finally realizing that we really all are part of the same family. And with the same intensity that we use to organize and support world athletic tournaments, it is time we began organizing a world political party.
This is the first installment of a series of three articles on creating a world political party.
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