Credits:
Executive Producer: Peter Schurman
Director: Dennis Castro
Editor and Motion Graphics: Jacob Nasim
Voiceover Talent: Mara Junot
Marketing Strategy: Maya Zuckerman
Development Associate: K. Stellar Dutcher
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One Global Democracy 
At a time when some want to build walls instead of bridges, I believe free trade promotes world peace. I look forward to the day, when the arbitrary lines across the globe, drawn by man, are erased. My grandfather moved from Kansas to Detroit, back in the 30’s to work at General Motors. I see no difference between him and a man from Mexico who moves from there to the United States to work. No human being should be called illegal. May God bless your work, Peter.
Thank you for your support and encouragement, Stephen.
I agree that trade agreements can do a lot of good, if they’re created fairly. Here’s a piece on that which you might enjoy:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-schurman/todays-trade-agreements-a_b_6951362.html
You seem to think that the “major problems”, like so-called Global-Warming (which, in the 1970’s would have been called “Global Cooling–the New Ice Age”), of the world are defined by you and those who agree with you. Have you actually obtained a “vote” from over 7 billion people? I doubt it. Further, with over 1 billion Muslims in the world, are you ready for Sharia Law? It was interesting that in China during the Cultural Revolution that when the “enlightened” college students got together to establish a “democratic process”, that they actually reverted to a totalitarian model … they did not even know what it means to rule as a democracy. Recently, we have seen what some proponents of “free speech” really mean … they only mean “free speech” with which they agree, all other speech must be suppressed. It is nice to think in rosy terms about the “freedom” to vote on issues by every person on earth, most of whom do not have access to the Internet or other technologies, and whose main job every day is just finding enough to eat, but the reality is that “freedom” to subjugate women, as in most of the countries of the world, is the defining mentality of the world population. I would be more impressed with your initiative if you first had a project that educated the 7 billion people of the world just what it means to live in a “democracy”. Good luck with N. Korea, China, Russia, and most other countries of the world where a “democracy” is the last thing that they are contemplating. A democracy in its true form is simply the totalitarian power of the majority. In the U.S. that is why there are laws to protect the minority populations. Hopefully, we can be protected from your agenda. … But, of course, realizing that you and those of your persuasion are obviously right. 🙂 Best wishes.
Kenneth, you might find this summary of global public opinion polling interesting:
Dear Peter,
Thank you for your reply. The obvious response is simply: “Polling is not voting.”
As we saw in last year’s election, many responses were apparently given to satisfy the pollsters rather than registering an honest opinion. Nothing about the article you cite refutes anything that I stated. I guess the easiest way to determine whether or not you actually want world-wide decisions based on “voting”, is to make it a law that the portrayal of Mohammad in art is allowed. Since 3/4 of the world population is not Muslim, it is apparent that the voting would go for allowing artists to portray what they want without the result of being killed for doing so.
Very simply, there is no way that I nor a great majority of other American’s will cow-tow to the “votes” of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia (how about that caning of our boy a few years ago!), or even Canada and the U.K. (how about the criminalization of unacceptable speech? … At-a-Boy, Peter!), etc. It is unfortunate that you believe that everyone in the world should live in a homogenous bubble that spans the globe … of course, as long as all the votes agree with your outcome.
What are you going to do when the majority in the world don’t give a damn about so-called Global Warming and just want enough coal to survive? Or simply, that they just do not care what happens to the environment. You seem to have a Utopian belief that the majority of the world population actually believes the way you do, and they all have the same priorities. What a shock it will be when you find that not all people believe the way you do, regardless of what the “polls” say. Polling is a ridiculous way to make decisions, whether it is on what everyone wants to do with N. Korea or Climate Accords. Chamberlain did that with Germany, believing that doing nothing and appeasing Hitler would solve all the problems. That went well.
Your belief, founded on polling, that most people of the world have the same priorities is total nonsense.
It is like the polling that concludes that people actually believe that you should be able to say what you want … only to find out that your speech is “acceptable” only as long as it agrees with “Peter’s” conclusions as to what is acceptable … that was actually confirmed on Tucker Carlson Tonight earlier this week! He finally got it out of a “free speech” proponent who was actually a Charlatan sine he believed that only speech with which he approved was “protected speech”. As soon as you agree that artists should be able to portray whatever the hell they want to portray, will I even begin to cow-tow to the “Peter Agenda”. 🙂
Best wishes,
Ken
For some more further facts that you might want to consider: (1) Most of the world population has no idea what a democracy entails. It is not something that is obvious, as I noted previously concerning the Chinese “revolutionaries” who wanted to establish a democratic government … they did not even know what it meant as they resorted to their only known form of government which was by fiat of the strongest.
(2) And, as noted, a true democracy in which everyone has a vote, the result is a tyranny of the majority, something recognized by our own founders who thereby provided protections for minorities. Do you seriously want to suppress the rights of minorities?
(3) And then there is a problem of believing that everyone actually believes as you do with concerns for the environment and the freedoms for all people. Take ISIS as a microcosm of what can very realistically happen: When a large enough number of individuals in a community believe that they have the right to kill anyone who disagrees with them, then that becomes the majority. Try and ask the 17 girls who had their heads cut off because they were watching a soccer game! Are you serious? Is this really what you want to rely on? A Utopian fantasy is one thing, but the reality of death is much more likely. And, in fact, even when the “majority” may actually not want to cut off girls heads, there will be a fear that if they do not vote according to the barbarians, then they also will be killed. How do you know that each vote is in fact “private” and not influenced by someone with power over the voter. Even when my wife votes, who is Vietnamese, I am in the voting booth watching how she votes and, in my case, I am making sure that she actually registers the vote she wants. But, if I am brutalizing her, then she knows that she has to vote the way I want her to vote.
While I appreciate your sentiments, I believe that such a world has a long way to go before you can even begin to implement a one-vote world, and, in fact, as noted, I do not really believe that such is what you want as minorities would not be protected. Tyranny of the majority does not always work out the way intended.
I recommend that you watch the movie “The Black Robe”, in which it documents the fate of an Indian tribe in Canada in, I believe about the 1600’s, when French Catholic Priests came and “educated” the Indians on the rightfulness of the Christian religion, especially with its emphasis on forgiveness and “turning the other cheek”. Unfortunately, the other Indian tribes did not appreciate such sentiments. As a result, the Indian tribe that became Christian was wiped out! Now that is an example of the “Tyranny of the Majority” … and if you do not believe them, they will kill you, thus making the one-vote safe for the tyrannical monsters.
And, actually a homogeneous world is one in which creativity and inspiration will be dead. Creativity and inspiration for change comes from challenging the status quo and existing living conditions. With homogeneity comes complacency and eventual death. It is by allowing for dissention and different perspectives that progress is made and revolutionary progress is made, whether that is in developing better techniques and understandings of our environment, or better living conditions for all people, or how to better distribute existing food to eliminate starvation. Without creativity and independent thought, unencumbered by “group think” demanded by a true democracy, the world population will wither and die. There is a reason that the U.S. has been so successful (I guess something that you abhor), it is because we have 50 states that provide 50 incubators for a diversity of opinion and life styles.
Anyway, best wishes, and I hope that at least you take another look at what you are proposing and consider how to modify it so that all minorities, including me, can live with the realization that you are not going to oppress and kill us. Ken
I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.™
However, I find it very off-putting and am quite skeptical when a movement lauding blockchain as a means of decentralizing power asks for personal info and a CC# to make a donation instead of accepting a Bitcoin.
Kind of makes you wonder if you’ll be able to outlive the dinosaur when you’re still trading using shavings from his toenails as currency.
Thanks for the comment. As of today, you can now make a tax-deductible donation in bitcoin to support this project via our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, Ecologistics, at the link below. We would greatly appreciate your support. Thank you for considering a gift.
https://ecologistics.org/bitcoin-donation/?donation_org=One%20Global%20Democracy
Many know that the phrase “There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come” comes from Victor Hugo. Most people don’t know that it comes from a speech he deliverded TO peace activists, AT a peace conference, encouraging them to keep on advocating for peace (and implicitly a United Europe and global federation) in 1850.
PS- I say this without endorsing nor opposing liquid democracy or blockchain voting, neither of which I understand enough.
Keep on advocating for peace via global democratic structures.