We appreciated the complexities of Hermetian politics in Mirkheim in the Technic History in:
The Constitution Of Hermes
Political Factions On Hermes
Liberation On Hermes
American politics in "Un-Man" in the Psychotechnic History are more straightforward:
the government is Labor and pro-UN;
its growing sociodynamicist faction is even more pro-world federation;
however, conservatives from mildly socialist Republicans to extreme Americanists are powerful enough in Congress to prevent abrogation of the Department of Security;
S-men hunt down foreign agents, including Un-Men, because their chief, Hessling, favors Americanism;
Un-Men in Security conceal the existence of the Brotherhood;
finance minister, Arnold Besser, urges UN President Lopez to investigate the Chinese allegation that Un-Men assassinated Kwang-Ti in Mongolia;
Fourre, head of the UN Inspectorate secret service, organized the coup against the anti-UN Argentinian government;
there are Ameicanists and an American Guard colonel in the group that captures Donner;
and there is an international alliance of nationalists!
13 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
"Nationalists of the world, unite! You have noting to lose but your nationality!"
More seriously, and in real time, can a world federation be even THINKABLE if it's very likely to be bitterly resented all around the globe?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I want to see a peaceful world federation but it can only grow by consent. Even then, it would be strongly opposed by an irreconcilable minority in each country.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I don't in the least believe any such federation will arise peacefully. I recal Hloch saying in THE EARTH BOOK that the story of the rise of the Solar Commonwealth was long and TERRIBLE. Which to me means force was probably used to drag recalcitrant nations into the Commonwealth.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
It will not be peaceful but, if it goes the way that I would like it to, then only a minority in each nation will resist. If it goes the way that I would not like it to, then, yes, it will be dreadful. But that is what we have to prevent.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But I see no need for either the US or UK to surrender its sovereignty to a world federation. More to the point, I see nothing, realistically, making such a federation LIKELY, any time soon. If only because any powerful nation suggesting such a thing will immediately be suspected of trying to control and dominate other nations.
It's more probable than not that it would take some Napoleon type conquering the world before global unity was attained.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Not soon and not a loss of sovereignty: cooperation on common issues between democracies.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But that was what the EU once claimed to be, BEFORE it became clear that it was intrusively and obnoxiously meddling in the internal affairs of member nations in a host of ways. That was why the UK finally left it this past January.
And of course huge parts of the world are governed by regimes not in the least democratic. Nations with kinds of gov'ts violently contradicting each other in basic ways are not going to unite well.
All these and many other factors must have been what led PA to having Hloch write that the story of rise of the Solar Commonwealth was long and TERRIBLE.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
All of that means that my preferred world order will not come soon. Struggles are necessary in individual countries first but they influence each other. When there was a "No Poll Tax" campaign in Britain, TV news showed a black person in South Africa holding up a "No Poll Tax!" placard although there was no Poll Tax there!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And that was simply ridiculous, IMO. I don't in the least believe all who advocated a poll tax did so for malevolent reasons. No, political controversies within a nation are not always going to be so tidy and neat or even comprehensible to foreigners who don't first do in depth studies of such LOCAL issues.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The anecdotal story about the placard in South Africa was meant as a mildly amusing reflection of how what happens in one country impacts on others through the modern media. People's problem with the poll tax was just that it was ruinously expensive, not that its advocates were necessarily malevolent.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood. But I would not have behaved that way unless I had bothered to read up about the poll tax controversy.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Of course but we are talking about one individual in a mass movement against Apartheid. There are bound to be all sorts of oddities and idiosyncrasies.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Granted, understood!
Ad astra! Sean
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