Comments on: McCain wants “League of Democracies”

By: LegendHasIt

LegendHasIt — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:20:05 +0000

How about forming a League of Usually Fairly Rational Nations…

Lets see, that would be US, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, with Britain and Canada as adjunct members with half a vote each.

More proof that McCain is not someone I want in the Senate, much less President.

By: tickleddragon

tickleddragon — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:03:18 +0000

Way to close to a step toward World Government… Another bad idea, and a lib one from our Donkey in Elephant’s clothing, McVain.

By: JackOfClubs

JackOfClubs — Tue, 01 May 2007 19:43:34 +0000

We've probably all had this idea at one time or another. Here is my post on a political forum from 2003. I called the UN replacement the "Qualified Union of International Democracies, or QUID for short". I still kind of like that acronym.

By: calbear

calbear — Tue, 01 May 2007 19:16:22 +0000

A few things to keep in mind: (1) If countries junk the UN, a lot of things will arguably be made more difficult. Would the League have the motivation or authority to have rescued non-democratic countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, etc.? It is arguable whether the UN does more harm than good. But calling it “completely useless” seems rather naive. (2) If the League insists on members being out of the UN, would you need more than one hand to be able to count members of the League? (3) If League countries determine who stays and who goes, what are the odds that both a majority of EU countries and Israel would coexist in the League?

The way to guard against (3) would be to make sure Israel gets in near the beginning and make it difficult to kick countries out. However, making it difficult to kick countries out would assure than countries like Russia, Zimbabwe, and Pakistan, which at times appear democratic but eventually reveal themselves not to be, would eventually be entrenched in the League. Even if it were easy to kick countries out, there would be a lot of pressure to keep in countries like Russia and Pakistan, lest the West upset such critically important countries.

Perhaps best would be to have an amalgamation of democratic-institutional organizations. Latin American democracies could have one organization. Eastern Asian countries could have another. The EU could be another. And the U.S. and its closest allies and neighbors (Israel, Canada, Australia, Mexico) could be another. True, that might worsen some of the above problems. But at least then Russia couldn’t be offended that it wasn’t in the League, since it wouldn’t be a League of all democracies, but a League of well-connected democracies. Just a thought.

By: P. James Moriarty

P. James Moriarty — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:28:19 +0000

Democracies like the one that elected Hamas?

By: tormod

tormod — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:43:26 +0000

Quit tiptoeing around the idea of booting the “united nations” out of the United States and just DO IT!
What to do with the building and property can be decided later.
Low-income housing for Americans is just one thing that comes to mind.

By: Entelechy

Entelechy — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:23:04 +0000

Mr. McCain is listening too much to his buddy John Kerry, forgetting why Mr. Kerry lost.

A good friend, other than Kerry, needs to have a heart-to-heart with Mr. McCain. It’s over. He is a great American and needs to reflect on retiring or continuing to serve in the Senate. All other is a waste of time, effort, resources, including money.

By: locomotivebreath1901

locomotivebreath1901 — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:20:50 +0000

Don Surber has a great take on all of this:
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2007/05/01/justice-league-of-america/

By: locomotivebreath1901

locomotivebreath1901 — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:18:31 +0000

Even the name is inane. And this from a so called republican who should be the champion of republican government – not democracy. We all know the inherent downfall of ‘mob rule’. GW is no better.

It just goes to show how far we as a nation have fallen in our implementation ‘of the people, by the people & for the people.’

Don Suber has a great take on all of this:
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2007/05/01/justice-league-of-america/

By: GT

GT — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:13:49 +0000

Hehehe…..“League of Democracies”

Sounds too much like the “League of Doom” with McCain playing the part of Bizarro.

By: CliffHanger

CliffHanger — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:25:06 +0000

I like the idea of a democratic union of nations but only if we kick the UN out of the US. Among other things, that’ll free up some real estate for this new organization.

By: Kai

Kai — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:37:51 +0000

PS: McCain is a damn idiot.

By: Kai

Kai — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:37:06 +0000

Wasn’t there already some sort of groundwork laid by Powell on this when he was SecState? I know we’ve done a lot of good work on the PSI (only to have the democrats hand the program oversight to the UN, IDIOTS)

I know there was something similar to what he was proposing bandied about.

By: Lehuster

Lehuster — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:18:13 +0000

The “League of Actual Democracies that Like Us” is smaller than the “League of Actual Democracies”, which is smaller than the “League of Democracies”. =)

By: Aylios

Aylios — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:12:29 +0000

Pretty relevant to the topic:
Human Rights Nightmare – Banned Speech
http://ws.collactive.com/points/point?id=fdHAkyrHUuNv#

By: petefrt

petefrt — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:09:23 +0000

Ha, need I add, it may already be too late. Proposals like this may already be moot. If/when the Dems next get enough power (2008?), the UN will be resuscitated and strengthened, probably beyond our wildest nightmares. And Dems will cast those changes in concrete, such that undoing them will be nearly impossible.

After all, the UN is the Dems back door to power in this country.

Sovereignty is an endangered concept.

By: Wade

Wade — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:02:57 +0000

McCain has become as senile as Murtha.

By: petefrt

petefrt — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:00:33 +0000

With the UN having morphed from benign incompetence (and corruption) to active adversary, I’m not going to argue over the details of any reasonable proposal for an alternative international entity. Almost any alternative to the UN would be an improvement, but it needs to be developed quickly, before the UN gets even more powerful.

Let’s get it up and operating in such a way that it can be refined by experience. But let’s get it up ASAP.

By: CP

CP — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:45:18 +0000

I would like to see something like this come together as well. The UN is completely useless. The new entity would have to be tightly managed so as not to devolve into the same thing. The PSI and NATO would be a good start as either models or components thereof.

BTW, Rode Werk – as I understand it, foreign treaties already supercede the Constitution.

By: Rode Werk

Rode Werk — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:31:58 +0000

I don’t buy into the League of Extraordinary Democracies. McCain’s version would bind us to laws that would remove the USA’s autonomy, and supercede the Constitution.

I also believe it would used as a carrot dangled in front of prospective countries to get them to say they would comply. How long before they would allow China into the League?

Who would pay the lion’s share of the bill? Instead of foisting this load of crap on American’s how about McCain come up with a way of reducing our tax burden by defunding the U.N.?

By: common sensineer

common sensineer — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:15:17 +0000

Meep has a point. There are plenty of “DINO”s–Democracies in Name Only out there. The proper qualifications for joining this League would eliminate all but a handful of countries. Think Coalition of the Willing, and maybe a few more.

By: meep

meep — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:42:41 +0000

And where would Russia fit in? It seems more a thugocracy, though it’s a democracy on paper.

By: Kahuna

Kahuna — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:25:26 +0000

I have argued for something along these lines for years as well. Why should some tinhorn dictator of some little nation have the same vote as us in the UN? They won’t even give a proper vote to their own citizens. My idea was for the member nations to be free market capitalist societies, have human rights built into their constitutions, and some form of democratic republic since there really is no true democracies thank God.