Re: human rights and national sovereignty/ is an oxymoron

In reference to the exchange below:
Dear Pat, what you say may sound great on paper, but history proves it 
doesn't work in reality. What we need is 180 degree turn. Wherein individuals 
assume their rightful place as part of the human family, and stewards of the 
Earth. Where relationship and mutual cooperation becomes the highest values 
as opposed to ownership and competition. Where police, hierarchy, authority, 
locks and keys, are no longer necessary. Where only the individual has 
sovereignty. Just a little attitude adjustment would help alot.

There are some basic false assumptions underlying our society, that is the 
root of all our problems, IMHO. One being, that we must fend for ourselves. 
It is like all the leaves of a tree, not seeing that they are a part of the 
tree. We are all part of the same tree and when one is hurt, it jeopardizes 
us all.

Now we see the falseness of capitalism playing out its havoc on the world. 
For many years this wasn't so apparent. But now that it has extended to every 
nook and cranny of the globe, it is seizing up the planet. That is because 
capitalism is a simplistic, reductionist approach to the world, which 
compromises everything to its schemata. Profit ( a number) being the ultimate 
reference to all human problems. Life is so much deeper and greater than 
this. This bottom line is only one of the many facets and considerations in 
dealing with survival and existence. So, now, all life is compromised from 
this one little error in humanity's thinking.

And then capitalism, like everything else is subject to corruption. And the 
corrupt form is what we have, wherein humans are exploited to the nth degree, 
and wars are used to sell arms and manipulate people.

I am a simple person, so these things seem very simple and obvious to me. The 
way to get it around it, I believe, is to lay the groundwork for a society 
based on our true conditions, which is our interconnectedness, the wisdom of 
Buddha, and all great religions. I am unhappy if my happiness is founded on 
someone else's suffering. I don't want to be rich, if so many people have to 
be poor. I can't enjoy my meal, if everyone else is starving.

This world's unsustainable practices is a dead end street, and is reaching 
its limits. It is bound to fall. What is of the utmost importance, is to have 
the groundwork in place before this occurs to save years of unnecessary 
suffering. Y2k might be its undoing, or something else. So the time is nigh. 

I have created a website to develope and ever-improving list of low-tech 
sustainable ideas thru global collaboration over the internet. It is half 
done, but functional. It will help make it possible for individuals and 
groups to make themselves and their neighborhoods self-sustainable before 
2000. Of course, it is dependent to a large degree on global collaboration 
and that is still an uncertainty.

The more sustainable communities can become, the more autonomous, the less 
dependent on corporations and nations, the more the groundwork is laid. My 
website is 
<A HREF="http://bagelhole.hypermart.net/">http://bagelhole.hypermart.net/</A> 
..
										
					Income unity,
										
				    Tom O (bagelhole1)
_______________________________________________
In a message dated 5/1/99 6:12:01 AM, jgunning@squ.edu.om writes:

<<Bagelhole1@aol.com wrote:

> I just jumped in here by chance, but how sad, to encounter such a 
hopelessly,
> uninformed and naive statement. All governments corrupt. If they are not
> corrupt now ( which they all are), they will be. You know, "Absolute power
> corrupts absolutely". So, if you want a quick route to world totalitarianism
> set up a "World gov't.". No, there is only one real solution, IMHO, the
> opposite of what exists today, 180 degrees. That means the end to all
> sovereign entities. Sovereignty is what should not be tolerated, much less 
be
> promoted.
> 
> Sovereign entities are responsible for war, humger, and torture. Yet you
> tolerate them and accept them, take them for granted just like the air you
> breathe. What is the bridge from here to there (violence to justice)? Laying
> the groundwork for self-sustaining, mutually co-operative, non-sovereign,
> consensus-based, small communities is the proactive, grass-roots way, which
> the progressive community hasn't figured out yet. Because idiocy rules in
> every group and throughout the world. That is why I expect this to be 
largely
> ignored. But every once in a while, the swine are fed pearls.

Tom, have you considered federalism? This is a world government in which
the world police force and perhaps military, restricted by a world
constitutional court and public sentiment, assures basic rights such as
freedom of speech, press, exchange, ownership of legitimately-acquired
property against confiscation by member states, and migration. The
federated states retain the right to tax and spend so long as they abide
by democratic principles and uphold the basic rights.

-- 
Pat Gunning, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
Web pages on Subjectivism, Democracy, Taiwan, Ludwig von Mises,
Austrian Economics, and my University Classes
http://www2.cybercities.com/g/gunning/welcome.htm
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/barclay/212/welcome.htm>>