Lockbox Budgeting in the U.S.A.

 

Lockbox Budgeting in the U.S.A.

"No man's life, liberty, or property are

safe while the Legislature is in session."

 

Gideon John Tucker 

He was an American

lawyer, newspaper

editor, and politician.

Let's return to 'Lockbox Budgeting' in the U.S.A.  Entitlement programs were kept as a separate account from the National General Fund.  It was in 1968 that President Lyndon B. Johnson unified all three federal budgets, the administrative budget, the consolidated cash budget, and the national income accounts budget, into one unified budget.  He needed to pay for the astronomical costs of the Vietnam War and simultaneously 'The Great Society Program' of the civil rights era.

The assets in the Social Security trust funds consist of Treasury securities, which are promissory notes from the federal government that have never been and will probably never be paid back to the trust funds. We have a $36 trillion national debt and are on course to borrow again this year to cover a $2 trillion annual budget deficit. Congress has been playing a hide-and-seek game with the national treasury. Reduced transparency allows for increased fraud and abuse.  We need to move from a world of continuing resolutions into one with an annual balanced budget.

Every common sense administrator operates out of a clear budget that divides all funds into dedicated accounts.  We take care of our elderly through entitlements, and we collect taxes for that purpose.  Those funds must be kept in self-adjusting lockbox accounts to keep them solvent.  These programs are soon to be bankrupt because the funds have been pilfered by our political class.

The national debt and its burdensome interest payments should be refinanced into a fixed-payment national mortgage, spread over a designated number of years, and again placed in a Congress-proved lockbox account. We must achieve financial security by not spending more than we earn while continuing to serve as the world's reserve currency.

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We Must Register All Well-Behaved Undocumented Immigrants

Food for Thought

We Must Register All Well-Behaved Undocumented Immigrants

What person here illegally (and in his right mind),

                                            will go to the government, announce being here

                                        illegally (e.g. plead guilty), provide all sorts of

                                        information as to where that person lives, etc.

                                    to get a work permit only to be a target for

          deportation in two years?

                                                                                                     Greta Van Susteren

 

Now that the southern border is effectively closed, and as we continue with the aggressive deportation of criminal aliens, the all-important question remains, how do we humanely manage the 20-30+ million undocumented residents already in our country?  Technically, they are all criminals who violated our immigration laws and are living in hiding in our country, as clearly expressed by the new White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt. 

Nevertheless, do open borders, sanctuary cities and states, and lack of immigration law enforcement constitute an invitation by the United States (U.S.) for poor people to come over?   Regardless of which federal government administration was responsible, they were actions of the U.S. as an actor on the world stage.  We, as a nation, are morally liable for the consequences.  Treating law-abiding undocumented immigrants, whom we enticed to come over illegally, as criminals comes dangerously close to legal entrapment.

There are some things on which both sides of the aisle can agree, as follows:

·    Let's agree that the undocumented immigrants whom our nation has lured here with an open-border policy and who have become law-abiding, productive members of society and loyal to our nation must be granted gradual legalization and, ultimately, voting citizenship. 

    Let's agree that all criminal aliens should be deported as soon as possible (a.s.a.p.). 

     Let's agree that we should not cast a broad net to fish for all illegal immigrants in the general population.  It is common sense; we cannot deport tens of millions of human beings inside our country; it would create national chaos.

 Let's agree that we will not grant another 'blanket amnesty' for undocumented immigrants. We have done this in the past, seven times since 1986, without seriously preventing the ongoing flow of illegal entry.  It was disingenuous and divisive, and it prolonged the suffering of the millions living in the shadows. So, the impasse continued.

Nevertheless, the American people have a right to know a.s.a.p.:  Who are these people, where are they now, and who among them are committing crimes?  Where are the 300,000+ unaccompanied children that the system lost, and are we earnestly looking for them?

I propose the following framework for a national immigration solution:

1          1.  Restructure our legal immigration system.

    a.  We must continue bringing large numbers of immigrants through a legal process that must be expanded.

    b. We should permit the American government, businesses, and institutions to recruit qualified personnel from around the world as long as those newcomers participate in the national registration program, express their intent to become Americans, learn the English language, and pledge allegiance to our nation instead of merely residing here.

2.   Begin a universal program of national registration of undocumented residents.

    a.  Recruit the involvement of government agencies, churches, and private non-government organizations (NGOs).

    b.  A set registration period should be established, with well-advertised national intake locations, for those undocumented immigrants who pledge to become Americans through a mandatory, gradual legalization program.

    c.  Those individuals participating in the national registration program shall be granted official identification documents and sanctuary from deportation.

    d.  Those adequately registered would be granted conditional work permits.  

    e. When the authorities detect individuals who fail to register, they will face immediate deportation. Employers of any kind who provide work to unregistered undocumented immigrants would incur severe penalties, including potential imprisonment.  

    f.  The next national population census must ask for and identify non-citizens; their voluntary disclosure must grant them sanctuary from deportation, provided that they are also willing to participate in the national registration program.

We must remain one nation under God, with a united population ruled by laws and transparent to each other.  We are the sovereign United States of America in the global family of nations. 

  

 

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Individual Accountability and the National Debt Burden

Food for Thought

Individual Accountability and the National Debt Burden

"I place economy among the first and most important

virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers

to be feared ... To preserve our independence, we

must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt".

Thomas Jefferson 

Is it 35, or is it 37 trillion dollars of national debt which we will have following the next debt ceiling escalation? It is hard to keep track. The so-called “unfunded obligations” are measured in tens of trillions of dollars when state and municipal profligacy is factored in.  These are not accidental calamities but underhanded, back-door scrounging of national vitality. It’s useless to search for smoking guns; we are all to blame to some degree. It is the system that has failed; it has moved our population from abundance to complacency and dependence.  Unions and associations concentrate political power and compel legislators to give their members even more entitlements.  Citizens cry for more benefits while lamenting the crushing national debt. Political leaders struggle to balance patriotism against electoral reality.

People will not voluntarily give back excessive benefits, however undeserved, and pending congressional compromise over the method of fiscal suicide is no consolation.  The “sine qua non” element is constitutional amendments.  Universal respect for our constitution has been the essence of our national success, and it is the key to our future survival.  Two specific constitutional amendments, “sanity amendments,” are desperately needed: a balanced budget amendment and a national debt repayment amendment.  A balanced budget amendment would coerce partisans into sharing the dreadful but unavoidable national pain. Our country’s predicament is comparable to a recent movie called “127 Hours,” where a hiker gets one arm trapped by a fallen rock and is ultimately forced to cut off his own arm to survive.

Social Security and Medicare personal entitlements are the main drivers of our relentless national deficit spending. Every citizen expects to get what they pay for, and rightfully so. 

However, retired Americans often misunderstand that the Social Security and Medicare benefits they now enjoy correspond to their previous contributions. In most instances, they receive many times more benefits than what they put into the system.  Only those in real need should continue to receive government charity within a new Social Care Program.

Let’s begin by reporting a fair and honest accounting of every citizen’s contribution to the Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs. Let every person know what they put in, what a fair interest in that money has produced for them, and the total amount that in justice belongs to them. Let’s clearly pinpoint the end of everyone’s rightful compensation and the beginning of social charity. No person in need should be abandoned, but it begs the question, is anyone opposed to means-testing of deficit-financed social charity? We have to accept that not all seniors are alike; some can pay their own way, while many more can partly contribute to their own retirement and medical costs.

A debt repayment amendment is seldom mentioned, and this is a major part of the problem. Balancing the budget over several years is not enough; the devastating debt we already have will zap our economy. A constitutional amendment will accomplish two very important things: it will create a debt repayment regime and make it difficult for future legislatures to raise the national debt ceiling.  A repayment regime would have to be designed as a generational, 75-100-year amortization plan. It would also require its own dedicated, tax-based revenue stream. Future augmentation of the national debt would not result from a painless stroke of the pen but from a corresponding increase in very public mandatory taxes.

A final consideration for fiscal responsibility is the need to prepare for massive national spending on domestic issues like failing schools, illegal immigration, overcrowded prisons, energy dependence, crumbling infrastructure …, as well as possible expenditures for international issues like a pending space race with China, growing military and humanitarian involvement in developing Arab revolutions, possible escalation of our war on terror … As a society, we can and have practice “surrender management,” it is the inevitable result of a refusal to sacrifice.  Immunity from sacrifice is not an American entitlement.

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Compassionate Conservatism Now

Food for Thought

 Compassionate Conservatism Now

"Compassion is the keen awareness 

of the interdependence of all things."

— Thomas Merton

Reaching out to the poor is both morally correct and politically astute for the next administration as it prepares to take over.  American Black, Hispanic, and other minority voters have already shown their willingness to listen to both sides; this window may not be open for long.  It is time for the rebirth of compassionate conservatism.  Prior misdirected attempts at anti-poverty programs failed to repair the broken base on which they tried to build and have yielded mediocre results at best.  A new anti-poverty agenda should focus on economic development, social order and cohesiveness, and educational effectiveness.  

Following the old axiom that a good job is the best anti-poverty program, the government at all levels must be ready to subsidize for-profit employment initiatives run by major companies and free-market entrepreneurs.  The poor must be made to understand that the only way out of poverty is employment achievement in a meritocratic environment.  By the same token, American well-to-do social-level citizens must understand that we have an obligation to provide secure neighborhoods and schools for the poor, not violent gangs and corrupt police cabals.  Concerning the gangs, we have Marines and Army Rangers, and for corrupt police cabals, we have lie detectors.  

Law and order efforts must increase police diversity and even the use of community-based auxiliary forces.  Nevertheless, street gangs must be confronted and expelled.  Most importantly, incarceration patterns and welfare program structures must be revamped to encourage greater paternal participation in family formation.  As conditions improve, so will the educational system's success, especially when competition and parental choice are introduced.  Education, combined with individual responsibility, is the ultimate anti-poverty remedy.

So, when candidates ask the poor: “What do you have to lose?”  The answer will be another loss of faith in the American system if the new administration proves to be, for them, more of the same.

---

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The Last Election Ploy

Food for thought:

The Last Election Ploy

“The theory of Communism may be summed up

in one sentence: Abolish all private property.”

Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 1848.

Poor people around the world are enchanted with a party that promises equality, socially and economically.  So, they naively elect the first communist, aka socialist government, not knowing that invariably, it will be their last free election.

Whether it was Fidel Castro, Manuel Noriega, or Hugo Chaves, … the result was always the same.  Once in power, the communist regime stifled the free press, confiscated private property, nationalized major industries, and made sure that their next “free elections” favored their party by 95%.  They will also build a formidable “people’s military,” ready to eliminate descend from the party line. The lied-to population will soon discover that the promised panacea was a mirage, that they are now allies of totalitarian Russia, Communist China, religious fanatical Iran, and tyrannical North Korea, with no do-over in the last election.

We have been allowing the highjacking of democracy and free-market capitalism in the Americas by not having failsafe consequences that would severely sanction those regimes.  This must be done in coordination with the Organization of American States so that, with American support, it can become a quasi-federalized authority.  This authority must be enforced by a military capable of bringing about regime change and internationally supervised elections in highjacked states.  The rule is simple, socialist/communist parties are allowed to win elections, but not just one.

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American Energy Will Save the Environment

 Food for thought:

American Energy Will Save the Environment

 

"We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change

and the last generation who can do something about it". 

President Barack Obama

Climate Change is an existential threat to some and a hoax to others.  From my perspective, I am not intelligent enough to presume certainty, nor do I have enough elements of judgment.  Any guessing could be right or wrong, but can any of us afford to be wrong on this one?

Humanity is in a proverbial Catch-22: the burning of fossil fuels is the only immediate answer to the global energy demand, and the green revolution is not yet ready for prime time. Future energy developments like Fusion, Hydrogen Cells, miniature nuclear reactors, and unimaginable scientific surprises … are close but will not arrive on time.      

Meanwhile, a new crisis is brewing under the radar. The world is rushing to develop artificial intelligence, and guess what? We now need to double energy production everywhere. Microsoft is buying the controversial Three-Mile Island Nuclear Plant just to supply some of its computers. How fast can we now build nuclear plants in America? How fast can China, India, Russia, Europe, and the rest of the nations catch up?

We must accept that a voracious consumption of energy in all its forms is inevitable around the world and that fossil fuels are the only immediate answer.  However, not all fossil fuels are the same.  According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), natural gas is a relatively clean-burning fossil fuel; burning natural gas for energy results in fewer emissions of nearly all types of air pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than burning coal or petroleum products to produce an equal amount of energy.  Ergo, the more natural gas we produce, the less coal and oil the world will burn.  It is the sensible first step to doing something significant in the international struggle to reduce environmental damage.

We have the most natural gas to supply the world, and we can bring it to market faster than anyone else.  Let’s do our part to protect the planet.  We can and should become the dominant energy source on Earth.  The inherent economic bonanza will expand our ability to gradually balance our national budget, reduce our national debt, reconstruct our physical and human infrastructures, and much more …

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We Cannot Depend on Shake & Bake Foreign Soldiers

 

Food for thought

We Cannot Depend on Shake & Bake Foreign Soldiers

“My fellow citizens of the world... ask not what America will do 

for you, but what together we can do for the Freedom of Man.”

 

John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address (20 January 1961).

American soldiers are the best in the world. They are well-trained and equipped, and they are standup men and women. We tend to train and equip foreign forces fighting alongside our troops, but we do not really test them on the battlefield. We count their troops as a total number when only a fraction is battle-ready. 

We will send American troops to other countries in the future, and we will again train local forces to prop democratic governments.  We cannot allow all democracies in the world to be overrun by totalitarian forces, and China will continue to pursue the creation of a Chinese-dominated totalitarian world government.  Nevertheless, future American military interventions need to establish three basic principles:  

• first, the nation that we go to defend must draft all available men to be trained and equipped for battle, and the created Indigenous military force must relentlessly pursue and destroy its enemy, albeit with American air power and general support.  
• Second, we should never allow American troops to fight in a war against an enemy that hides in a sanctuary.  It is never a winning strategy, and it should never be allowed.  
• Third, we should never send troops abroad unless we intend to win and have a well-defined exit strategy.

 In the Vietnam War, we created a South Vietnamese military of over a million men, but we never had them confront the North Vietnamese Army head-on.  Yes, they had their major battles, but they never tried to close the Ho Chi Minh Trail.  We pursued the same foolhardy approach in the 20-year war in Afghanistan.  We created an Afghan force of 300,000 men, trained and equipped by us, but it was not used to expel the Taliban from all its territory.  We should have used the Afghan army to both relentlessly attack Taliban forces inside their country and to conduct raids into their sanctuaries in Pakistan.  After we create an indigenous fighting force in a protected country, and they face and defeat their enemy head-on, albeit with American air power and support, we can begin our orderly withdrawal.

The real questions are, why did the U.S. allow the existence of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an enemy supply jungle highway in the Vietnam War?  And why did the U.S. allow the occupation of part of the Afghan territory by the Taliban while the Afghan Shake-and-Bake army watched from afar?  Our shake-and-bake foreign armies will always postpone the final battle for tomorrow if we allow it if we accept a war of attrition, and the result will always be predictable.  

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The Need for an Undocumented Immigrants Registration Program

 Food for Thought

The Need for an Undocumented Immigrants Registration Program

"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them 

but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."

George Bernard Shaw

The insistence by some on the granting of another amnesty for undocumented residents, number eight since 1986, without preventing future illegal entry, is disingenuous and divisive; it also prolongs the suffering of the millions living in the shadows.  So, the impasse continues.    

The all-important question is, how do we humanely manage the 20+ million undocumented residents already in our country?  I propose the following:

• Let's agree that all criminal aliens, as well as foreign freeloaders, should be deported, a.s.a.p.
• Let's agree that we must continue bringing large numbers of immigrants through a legal process that must be expanded.
• Let's agree that we should allow American businesses to recruit qualified personnel worldwide, provided those newcomers intend to become Americans rather than just live here.
• Let's agree that those undocumented immigrants which our nation has invited to come with an open-border policy and who have become non-criminal, productive residents must be granted gradual legalization and eventual voting citizenship.
• Let's agree that we must begin a program of massive national registration of undocumented residents with the involvement of government agencies, churches, and private organizations.

A set registration period should be established, with well-advertised national intake locations, for those undocumented immigrants who pledge to become Americans through a mandatory, gradual legalization program.  Those adequately registered would be granted conditional work permits.  When the authorities detect those who fail to register, they will be subject to rapid deportation.  Employers providing work to unregistered immigrants would face stiff penalties, including potential imprisonment.  

We must remain one nation under God, with a united population ruled by laws and transparent to each other.  We are the sovereign United States of America in the global family of nations. 

  

 

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Ending our Marriage with Communist China

 

Ending our Marriage with Communist China

“We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,

 support any friend, oppose any foe to ensure the survival

 and success of liberty” 

President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address on January 20, 1961 

The threat is China, and we must never lose sight of it.  A game of chicken is being played along economic, military, and scientific lines.  We are marching towards a confrontation in the South China Sea, and the trigger will probably be the island nation of Taiwan, which we hold as a strategic ally and supplier of computer chips, while China sees it as a renegade province.  It is where the formerly democratic government of China took refuge after it escaped the communist revolution in the mainland in 1949.  We welcomed the democratic government in Taiwan, with a population of some 20 million people, under President Chiang Kai-shek, to membership in American-led military alliances.  The U.S. then began a policy of containment of communist China, with nearly a billion people under Chairman Mao Zedong.  The policy of containment and isolation has led to two proxy wars with China, first in Korea in 1950, which ended in a stalemate, and later in Vietnam in 1955, which ended with our humiliating defeat in 1975.   

President Richard M. Nixon moved to end the isolation of China with a personal visit to its capital, Beijing, in 1972.  China was later admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001.  It was all done to try to integrate China into the international community of nations in exchange for neighborly behavior.  China became rich as a cheap manufacturer for the U.S. and Europe while violating treaties and international rules of behavior.  It has used its newfound wealth to enslave the people of Hong Kong, to harass its neighbors in the China Sea, and to pursue global economic and military dominance.  American accommodating policies are facilitating their agenda.

Will China engage in acts of war against the U.S.?  Yes, as soon as it achieves overwhelming military superiority in the Asia-Pacific region.  It has already built the world's largest navy.  The communist Chinese may restrict free navigation in the South China Sea, and it may outright invade Taiwan.  Will we have non-nuclear military options? No, but we can decouple China’s economy from ours, which will cause unbearable pain to the Chinese.  An economic breakup with China can be brutally disruptive for the U.S. as well unless it prepares in advance for it.  The U.S. must begin to lead Western democracies in the process of shifting production of essential supplies from China to the U.S. and its allies.  Products like antibiotics, rare earth, critical computer parts, and many others must have alternative sources of supply.  We should, in fact, transfer much of our supply chain from China to Mexico, South America, and the U.S., which would bring great benefits to us.  We should also rush to increase robotic manufacturing to minimize dependence on cheap Chinese labor.  Once we develop a fail-safe supply chain infrastructure, the Chinese leverage will be arrested, and their cost of aggression will become prohibitive.  If this strategic production is not counterbalanced, the risk of confrontation and war will continue to grow.

On the military front, China is engaged in a massive buildup, with gigantic efforts in the research and development of new weapons.  They have publicized their capacity to sink American aircraft carriers, knock down our communication satellites from orbit, and disrupt our cyber infrastructure.  It has also amassed a huge army, far more than their defensive needs.  The U.S. has no choice but to continue its military modernization of the past years, and to rapidly advance its development of the American Space Force.  The communist government of China is not likely to change its ways voluntarily, only internal regime change, or confrontation from the West can do that.  A strong and decisive America is the only defense against Chinese domination of the world and the imposition of global totalitarianism.

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The Crime of Punishment in America

 The Crime of Punishment in America

"We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground."

Leon Panetta, White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense, 

Director of the CIA, Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

 What do we know about jails and prisons?  We all seem to know, or at least suspect, that incarcerated persons undergo horrible experiences behind bars; they do.  There are almost two million people in federal and state prisons and local jails, far more than any other country.  The poor are overrepresented in the inmate population, especially those who are suffering from mental illness and drug addiction.  In many ways, our jails and prisons are warehouses for these populations, while institutions for the mentally ill are in short supply, and addiction treatment centers are poorly funded.  Starting in the 1980s and continuing to the present day, tough drug enforcement laws have flooded our jails and prisons with convicted offenders; the overcrowding has become insufferable.    

Who goes to prison?  Mostly the poor who lack the resources, both for bail and for a proper defense.  Other reasons stem from discriminating enforcement practices, for example, the different treatment of powder cocaine, used by the wealthy, and crack cocaine, the cheaper version used by the poor.  The latter is actively pursued by the police and carries mandatory prison for small amounts.  Powder cocaine is often not on the police radar, and imprisonment requires a violation involving very large amounts.  Some argue that the creation of for-profit administration of prisons is behind the increase in incarcerated persons, and there is probably some degree of corruption in this area as well.  Humans will be humans

What happens once in prison?  A phrase attributed to inmates suggests that newcomers to the inmate population are either Vikings or victims.  That is to say that if you are not tough and strong, you will be a slave; you will be continuously raped and frequently beaten. If you can fight your way out of slavery, then you must join one of the racial and ethnic prison gangs and be always at war.  Since there is usually only one jail or prison guard per hundred inmates, guards are usually on the other side of the bars.  Inmates run the prison blocks and yards.  It is believed by many that official corruption is significant and everything is for sale.

What happens to inmates after jail or prison?  Rehab programs are poorly funded and inefficiently run inside, so employment opportunities outside are usually beyond their reach.  The poor transition leads to a much higher recidivism rate than it needs to be.

How can it be made better? It will require more funding for additional security personnel, anti-corruption mechanisms, and rehabilitation efforts, including work-release programs, as well as other diversion programs.  It is not rocket science, but it does not happen when only the poor are imprisoned, and the middle and upper classes have to foot the bill.  Plainly speaking, there is no voting constituency.  Proportional bail and uniform enforcement of drug laws should be an offer the middle and upper American classes can't refuse.

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The Proper Route to Globalization

The Proper Route to Globalization

I

As communications and knowledge began to travel around the world at lightning speed with the birth of The Internet and the information revolution, humans everywhere have gotten to know more about each other.  The feeling of global brotherhood predicated in that reality has been a blessing in which we all rejoice.  Humans, nevertheless, are still the architects of world communities and continue to be far from perfect.  Globalism expressed in a rush to create open borders, open markets, and international laws regardless of intentions, has produced serious complications for our nation and for others.  Poor people from neighboring nations have flooded our land in unprecedented and indigestible numbers, and well-paying jobs have moved to other nations that have no minimum-wage laws and few regulations.  It has been a noble experiment, and nothing is gained by retro-blaming; rather, forward-looking changes in policies must be adopted.

It would be irrational to suggest that anyone is going to deport the tens of millions of undocumented immigrants in our country, although the deportation of the many thousands of criminal aliens and freeloaders is essential.  It would be equally foolish to insist on maintaining an open border that inevitably invites millions more to come across.  International trade must not be stifled, provided that nations can agree to respect the need for and bring about reasonable, balanced trade policies.  There is nothing wrong with sovereignty and a measured degree of nationalism in today's world.  The paramount concern is the continuous existence of absolute rulers in Communist China hellbent on historical revenge and world domination.  

Ultimately, the goal is a universal world order instead of an arms race and mutually assured destruction (MAD).  Even if we manage to avoid total war, inescapable environmental realities will some day compel the creation of a world government.  For my part, I pray.

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