Richard Barker said:
> I personally would like to see a body replace the UN, which is formed by
all
> countries that operate a democracy.  The role of this council should be to
> pressure all countries of the world to adopt a democracy.  This, of
course,
> would truly allow the people to select the appropriate leader.

I have 2 thoughts on that:
- If we exclude countries that are not democracies, don't we end up
isolating them even more? And there is the assumption that a democracy
is the only viable option for running a country. I prefer democracy, but
that doesn't make it the only way or even the best way.
- Who gets to decide which countries get to be in this new assembly?
What is a democracy? If a country has representative democracy and
another has a direct democracy (town hall style), which is truly a
democracy? In our country, where so few people vote, how can we
say that our elected officials really represent the will of the people?
And if in some other country, the people repeatedly vote for the same
person over and over again and yet we consider the leader a dictator,
than who gets to decide about that country ... us or the people in that
country?

As messy as it is, I think the UN is a better solution. A family brawl,
no doubt.

Tom Hula
Victor S. Barnes Company

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *