by Michael S. Rozeff
The U.N. intervention in Libya is a major political event. The U.N. is intervening inside a country that has not aggressed against another country. Whether or not this is the first time that this has happened, it is surely an important and clear-cut instance of this happening.
The U.N. is intervening to take down the Gaddafi administration and replace it by another, of undetermined nature. This means that the U.N. places its power over that of the Libyan state. The U.N. makes itself the Supreme Governor in the sense that it decides on a critical feature of a State, namely, who has "consent," or who is entitled to rule that State when protests against the existing rule emerge.
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the U.N. launch a drone attack to kill Gaddafi.
Before going further in analyzing this, let’s recognize openly that the entire development is within the existing framework of States. The term "State" hides the fact that every State is an armed gang. The U.N. gives too much credence and respect to States. Let’s recognize that this framework is morally flawed. The weight of history and the apparent reality of this system should not, at a fundamental level, cause us to evaluate States positively and accept them. They are negative for human beings.
That said, I will analyze this intervention within this flawed framework. It doesn’t mean I approve of it. I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I approve of Gaddafi. I don’t. The situation is a tragic one. None of the choices are palatable. Nevertheless, I believe that the worse thing for the world at large is to strengthen the U.N. and to have it move further in the direction of world government. That’s the thrust of this article.
The Charter of the U.N. starts off with "We the Peoples of the United Nations." This is a fiction. It is an even greater fiction than the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, which starts off with "We the People."
The Charter goes on to say that "our respective Governments...have agreed to the present Charter..." This means that we the peoples didn’t have a direct say when the commitments were made. We certainly have had no say since that time. If this is "consent," it’s totally meaningless. The fact is that just as the U.S. government imposes its will on me and you, no matter what we want or say or think, the U.N. is just another government imposing its will upon us or others, as it sees fit and as it can. A government created by national governments is still a government.
I regard the U.N. as just as illegitimate a government as the U.S. government. Consent is a pretense and a fiction. I pay taxes at the point of a gun. I obey many laws at the point of a gun. Washington is a gang, and so is the U.N.
All the high-sounding language that spells out objectives of these governments is beside the point. The objectives may or may not be good ones. They may or may not be attainable by governments. Those are separate issues. High objectives do not justify using force and violence to attain them when the latter simply undermine achieving those objectives. I certainly do not approve of such force and violence when it undermines freedom of the person, which it does.
I don’t approve of Gaddafi’s actions, and I don’t approve of the U.N.’s actions. However, if the U.N.’s actions stand as a precedent, then the world is moving to world government. If the U.N. has the power to decide what each country’s political structure is, as in Libya, then who is going to decide what the structure of the U.N. is when it becomes oppressive? It will be some coalition of States, who wield the power behind the U.N., or eventually it might be some independent U.N. force. When there is one government of the world, and when one State attempts to break away, will the U.N. allow it? Of course not. If it did, the world government would break down. Governments usually try to prevent secession.
We have already seen what happened in the U.S. when the Constitution was put in and when a national government with powers was created. The dynamic went to centralization. A coalition of States under Lincoln imposed rule on the remaining States. The same kind of dynamic will occur with the United Nations, or already has, or is occurring now. Governments always seek more power and control.
World government is not imminent. I am not ringing that alarm bell. But if we look ahead, we can see it being shaped. The form may be unclear, but we can still make it out. It is not a good political development. It means more centralized power being exercised over people...
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http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff343.html
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