THE GRIM DILEMMA OF GOVERNMENT - Part 2
Plain Truth Magazine
August 1966
Volume: Vol XXXI, No.8
Issue:
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THE GRIM DILEMMA OF GOVERNMENT - Part 2

"WORLD PEACE THROUGH LAW" — "ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT" — these are the cherished hope of mankind for the future. Today, government leaders recognize WORLD GOVERNMENT is the only hope for lasting world peace. But take a long look at the GREATEST ATTEMPTS OF MAN IN ALL HISTORY to put together such a world government. What do you find? It's time you recognized NO HUMAN GOVERNMENT knows the WAY to world peace!

   THE United Nations is in trouble. Envisioned by world leaders as the ONLY way to lasting peace after World War II, the United Nations Organization was formed, a building site donated by the Rockefeller family and an impressive, modern building complex erected to house the many offices and conference halls.
   The record is not unimpressive.
   There have been some successes, some failures. But too many of the international disputes to come before the United Nations have tended to remain unsolved — like running sores between governments.
   And today, the headaches seem to outnumber the successes.
   With Red China, German reunification, the Cold War, and dozens of little hot wars to worry about, the UN finds itself heir to a whole host of problems not remotely envisioned by its founding fathers in the early post-war years.
   Take a brief look in retrospect.

The Anything-But-United Nations

   It seems almost like the fulfillment of an old household slogan, "Hindsight is better than foresight." And, to millions of us, the archaic attempts at world peace after World War I by the League of Nations appeared, in 1941, unbelievably shortsighted.
   We saw, in retrospect, the terrible inadequacies of the Treaty of Versailles, all of the faults with the shortsightedness of the Western allies — the problems inherent in the Danzig Corridor, the refugee problems, the Sudetenland, the Saar and Czechoslovakia.
   Suddenly, in 1939, it began to crystallize. Finally, in 1941, on December 7, it came sharply into focus for Americans who preferred to dream and play on their island of security in the midst of a world in ferment.
   And now, in this modern age, we see in retrospect the failings at Yalta, Teheran, and Potsdam. We see the shortsightedness of Western planners in allowing a nuclear stalemate to occur; a divided Berlin and a divided Jerusalem, and the almost staggering lack of initiative on the part of the West to win the peace after they had won the war!
   My father, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, was an accredited press correspondent attending the world conclave in San Francisco for the formation of the United Nations Charter, in 1946.
   He saw and heard there the greatest statesmen in the world, including Britain's Clement Attlee and Russia's Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, solemnly admit the United Nations was the world's "LAST CHANCE" for peace. No truer words were ever spoken!
   The United Nations DOES represent man's greatest single effort in all history to bring ALL nations together in mutual understanding and cooperation.
   Take a brief look at the record.
   Since those fateful days, more than FORTY WARS have been fought, the world has been hurled from the machine age to the jet age through the nuclear age and into the space age, and many wars are still blazing today!
   Little did the policy makers realize they were literally building into the United Nations its ultimate death knell.
   Leaders in some of the big powers have warned the United Nations HAS ALREADY FAILED. Many have called it a "sounding board" for Communist propaganda.
   And today, the headaches seem to grow only larger, and more insistent.
   In a conference on world law, Secretary General of the United Nations U Thant said, "What element is lacking, so that, with all our skill and our knowledge, we still find ourselves in the dark valley of discord and enmity? What is it that inhibits us from going forward together to enjoy the fruits of human endeavor and to reap the harvest of human experience?
   "Why is it that, for all of our professed ideals, our hopes, and our skill, peace on earth is still a distant objective, seen only dimly through the storms and turmoil of our present difficulties?" (Emphasis ours)
   Yes, WHAT ELEMENT IS LACKING? We shall see — and see very clearly.
   COULD the formulators of the United Nations Charter have even remotely envisioned all of the bizarre events that have occurred since those days in 1946?
   Could anyone, unless he understood Bible prophecy, have foretold sudden emergence of many new nations, barely toddling, like political babies, through world power politics as raw tyros and beginners, yet each one presenting its own peculiar headache to all the big powers?
   Had ANY of the big powers foreseen such a strange occurrence — the United Nations would not be facing its present crises.

The Growing Number of Nations

   Here's what is actually happening:
   Independence has become the magic word in the impoverished "have-not" nations of today. From the screams of "UHURU!" in Kenya to the banners of "liberated!" in Central America, independence is the exalted panacea of all times.
   Now, rag-tag, scraggly, illiterate and impoverished little countries scream for "independence" immediately!
   Staggering though it sounds, about one third of the total population of this broad earth, (more than ONE BILLION people!), have run up their own flags during the great dismemberment of empires that has followed in the aftermath of World War II.
   From that dramatic August of 1945, sixty new nations have been created on the face of this earth!
   Here's what that means!
   Government is much more than just big business — requiring educated men. Government should require a vast amount of education; in true history, government, languages, true and proven science, literature, and in ALL fields! Right government should require kindness, selflessness, understanding, equity, trust, patience and faith!
   It should require men of courage; capable of great personal sacrifice; completely HONEST men, who always tell the truth, even to their own hurt!
   It should require understanding of the deep racial, social and economic problems; the problems of health, education and welfare, of conservation, of labor and management. It SHOULD require a depth and grasp of HUMAN NATURE, and real dynamic LEADERSHIP!
   It SHOULD require all these qualities, and a great many more!
   But contrast these vital prerequisites to rule with the spectacle of some of the newest nations on earth. In the great dismantlement of empires, MANY new nations have sprung up. MANY MORE are just around the corner in modern history. Here's a part of the picture.

Only a Flagpole to Raise

   Some of the bloodiest riots of recent history have involved the urgent desire for independence on the part of many tiny, struggling nations.
   Like young juveniles whose awakening bodies and minds, though youthful, begin to cry out for "experience" and "freedom" — like teenagers who wish to completely throw off the yoke of all parental guidance and authority, many "new nations" which are not yet "nations" have struggled to throw off their real or imagined "yoke."
   But nationhood is not all that simple — even as adulthood is not quite so rosy and simple as many a teenager pictures it!
   Take the examples of Ghana, Nigeria and Indonesia. As Time magazine pointed out, their troubles are especially instructive, because most of the world's new nations have nowhere near the natural resources of Ghana, Nigeria or Indonesia.
   Time said, "Far too many of them [emerging new nations] raise their flags with little but a flagpole to go on..."
   Many "capital cities" of some of these nations are not cities at all, but small tribal villages with dirty, garbage-strewn, unpaved streets; a collection of mud and straw huts of incredible squalor and filth; with no schools, no public health or sanitation facilities, no plumbing or electricity, little, if any, public transport, and almost total illiteracy.
   Still, many scream for independence!

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

   Waiting right now for the new magical status of "statehood" are Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Mauritius — all due to become independent in 1966. Swaziland and South Arabia will follow soon.
   It was reported recently that thirty-one additional colonial territories in the British Empire alone remain to be freed around the world, not to mention the nineteen others to be given equal status by other former colonial powers.
   When you realize it is generally the weakest, most vociferous and insistent, and most violently anti-colonial who are given "statehood" FIRST, the problem takes on staggering proportions!
   And, nearly always, the FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS for these new "nations" is to clamor for membership in the United Nations!
   And, shocking as it may sound, EACH ONE OF THEM, when accepted into the United Nations General Assembly, has EQUAL VOICE and an equal vote with the United States, Great Britain, France or Russia!
   Recent history has proved that, while many of the emerging new Black African nations waved "racism" as their banner in wanting to throw off the yoke of the White powers, they have, nevertheless, tended to vote as a "bloc" in the United Nations.
   In other words, while screams of racism represented the crucible through which they gained independence, they tend to vote in the United Nations along racial lines, rather than as independent, objective, sovereign nations.
   But, as many such new "nations" have found, simply getting the nation in business at all can be an exhausting task.

The Political Babies

   For example, at the same time the new flag is hoisted, and membership in the United Nations applied for, the new nations must establish embassies and consulates around the world. But even THIS can sometimes exhaust both the finances and total educated talent of the entire nation!
   Look at Zambia. At the time of Zambia's independence there were eighty-nine university graduates in the entire country! Immediately, many of them were needed in foreign embassies (remember there are far more than eighty-nine countries in the world — meaning that had Zambia sent at least one university graduate to each other nation in the world, it would have been devoid of all university graduates in the entire country long before it had fulfilled its responsibilities toward other nations). Obviously, Zambia could not staff all its needed embassies and consulates with university graduates, let alone make a small dent in the tremendous need for educated leaders at home.
   But Zambia had MANY more educated personnel available for governmental duties than some other countries.
   In Tanzania there were only sixty-nine graduates at the time of independence! But in Malawi, there were only SEVENTEEN!
   Can you imagine it? — nations with only seventeen college graduates having an equal voice with the United States and Great Britain, with Russia and France, and with every other nation in the United Nations?
   Does THIS begin to look like the formulators of the United Nations charter lacked a little in foresight?
   Have you heard about the Maldive Islands near Ceylon? They are independent — a "new nation" on the earth. Yet they are so poor that the United Nations must forward their mail through the "Maldivian Philatelic Agency," which is just down the street from Macy's in Manhattan!
   Take a look at Rwanda. The president, Gregoire Kayibanda, lives in a sumptuous palace. His economy was until only recently a barter economy based upon cows! Cows were tribal symbols of wealth and importance. To purchase anything, from one of the pitifully few imported manufactured commodities to a wife, a given number of cows were the medium of exchange.
   While the president of Rwanda may present quite a few headaches to his fellow presidents around Africa, and, indeed, in such far-off places as Washington, Bonn, Paris, Rome or Moscow — he has no telephone in his palace in Kigali! So, periodically, he sends a minister of his down the road to neighboring Uganda to get a look at what might be happening in the rest of the world!
   Impoverished though they are, some new nations have national pride and vanity which tends to create severe internal problems, and thus threaten additional international problems.
   Impoverished Dahomey, for example, has a presidential residence that cost over $6,000,000 to build, and is larger than Buckingham Palace! Look at Upper Volta! So far, it has one quarter-mile of dual highway! Think of it — you could walk up and down this quarter-mile of dual paved highway in only minutes. And that's all there is. There isn't any more. The name of this first section of highway? "The Champs Elysees!"
   It was revealed there is an important sounding "Directorate of Forests and Waters" requiring a minister and staff in the new nation of Mauritania. Then it was found there are no forests, and precious little water!
   But this is only the beginning glimpse of the problem. Graft, vice, corruption, brutal police rule, no rights for individuals, government seizure of private industry and farms, tribal wars and battles, starvation, illiteracy, disease, squalor and filth — these are the daily way of life in many of the new nations. Corruption is so much a way of life and a part of the daily fabric of "government" in many of these emerging new nations that it is almost unbelievable. As Time magazine said, "A record of sorts was set by Burma's first Minister of Commerce and Industry, whose industriousness at graft netted him $800,000 in government funds before independence was yet a year old!"
   What a world!

NO Government Knows the Way to Peace

   In many countries where government is the biggest, and sometimes the ONLY industry in the entire country — there exists, nevertheless, an equal voice in world affairs with the United States and Russia!
   Does it make any sense? Does it portend safety, peace, productivity and a new era of prosperity for the world? Hardly. In many cases, it means only more suffering for already impoverished peoples — now subjected to shaky and inadequate governments of their own.
   And so, INSTEAD of law, order, education, understanding, magnanimity, long-suffering, patience, kindness, justice, equity, trust, faith, a deep grasp of human nature, total lack of racial and religious bias; and all of the lofty qualities which SHOULD go into any government — you find illiteracy, selfishness and egotism to the point of embarrassment; an insane desire for personal power; graft and corruption, lying, cheating, injustice, and inequality; insane, crazed, violent racial bigotries and hatreds, and a struggle for immediate status among elder nations of the world!
   Is independence WRONG, then? Should these nations return to colonial rule?
   Let's get the point! NONE of the methods of government in this world today have brought this world peace. NOT ONE of the governmental systems of this world have brought a REAL and a LASTING peace, even for its own peoples!
   Look at the tribal bloodshed in Africa; the violent religious battles in Vietnam; the stifling economies of much of Latin America; the impending famine in India; the worsening crime, deepening moral decay, and the sickness of "too much" blighting the big powers! There is no peace today!
   This article is NOT intended to extol the virtues of ANY man-made system of government — but to show clearly the failings of ALL systems!
   Not in all human history has ANY attempt of mankind to govern himself led the world toward peace!
   Today, we are closer to HUMAN EXTINCTION through the squabbles of GOVERNMENTS than ever before in human experience!
   Point to the government that has brought the world peace! Identify, if you can, the ONE GREAT SYSTEM that has ALWAYS SUCCEEDED! Yes, just as two plus two still makes four, so does the very FACT that mankind's searching for PEACE, MAN'S WAY, always leads toward greater wars!

World Government Only Solution

   All statesmen recognize the stem fact that WORLDWIDE government is the ONLY solution to man's ills. They know only a SUPER WORLDWIDE government, embodying ALL nations, with WORLD courts, world laws, and a world police force could ever succeed.
   And yet, they know such a government in the hands of men is IMPOSSIBLE!
   A world government? That would mean every nation renounce its own sovereignty. It means an immediate solution to the deepest problems dividing the human race! It means immediate solutions to all the monstrous problems of RACE, language, and education!
   It would mean a complete revision in the perspective of history, as it wildly differs in different nations; it would mean immediate TRUST between all nations, immediate disappearance of all nationalism, chauvinism, racism, rightism, leftism, communism, capitalism — and the immediate adoption of one world religion!
   It would mean human beings would suddenly QUIT being vain, selfish, suspicious, hostile, truculent, nationalistic, egotistic, proud, lustful, jealous, greedy, steeped in their own traditions, and deeply committed to their own religious faiths.
   It would mean mankind would SUDDENLY have to become HUMBLE, meek, long-suffering, easy to be entreated, slow to anger, magnanimous, selfless, loving, sharing, giving, understanding; eager to listen, always believing the best, never speaking evil, totally honest, completely CHANGED!

If You Were To Become a "Citizen of the World."

   Put it this way: If YOU were representative of YOUR government — and were considering membership in a WORLD government — here's what it would take for you and all your people to succeed!
   You would have to immediately GIVE UP ALL your own national history; with its colorful and "quaint" traditions — realizing that one WORLD history book would have to be written, not always showing the past of YOUR nation in the same light in which you have been accustomed to viewing it.
   All your national CULTURE must go. The reasoning you follow when you see someone else accomplishing an act, and say, "we do it better." All national PRIDE is out the window, and all national CONSCIENCE. Your stirring of heart at all the old songs, the old wars of yesteryear, the old heroes — the graveyards filled with your "glorious" dead — all the traditionalism, ceremony, culture, art, literature — it all goes.
   And all feelings of love for COUNTRY must go — since there will BE no such thing as different countries! Your natural suspicion toward other languages, races, religions and cultures must go immediately! Your feelings about black, yellow, brown, white — about health and hygiene, about marriage and social customs, about clothing, dress, and even your way of eating must give way to a new "world" culture!
   And everything which would be a REMINDER of these things would have to go.
   Your old pictures, uniforms, dresses, scrapbooks, sheet music, mementos, records, and all reminders of any past military experience must go. And so must all old chants, marches, songs, and military cocktail toasts!
   Do you begin to realize the truly IMPOSSIBLE PROPORTIONS such a solution takes on?
   And WHO WOULD RULE? Would members of ALL races be present? And WHAT POWER WOULD ENFORCE that rule? What if two or three members of one race, representing different countries, decided against this deep uprooting of all nationalism — and pulled out of that one world government?
   Who would decide to punish them? How would they be punished? What if they had NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
   Who would head the WORLD POLICE FORCE? How would it be controlled? What if a black policeman arrested a white citizen of the world, and other whites, not having totally overcome their racism — resented it?
   Would YOU be satisfied with such a solution?
   Are YOU ready to make such changes, and make them IMMEDIATELY?
   It's about time you see once and for all there IS NO MAN-MADE SOLUTION FOR THE DEEP GOVERNMENTAL SICKNESS OF THIS WORLD!
   But there is a solution!
   Dr. Robert M. Page said, "So long as you have human nature, there will be wars!"
   And HOW TRUE! HUMAN NATURE, by its very existence, defeats the idea of any super world government! That is, in the hands of a MAN!
   Read, next month, how world government WILL work — in spite of the overwhelming problems of this world today!

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Plain Truth MagazineAugust 1966Vol XXXI, No.8