Legal Path to Government of Earth for the U.S.A.
August 18, 2024
by William P. Meyers

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United Nations Treaty Path

This essay assumes that we are looking for a way to set up a Government of Earth, by way of a Provisional Government of Earth (PGE). We need such a government, to have an effective global Environmental Protection Agency. There are many paths to this goal, and many potential points of failure. Here I will look at how the United States became a member of the United Nations. It is possible the U.N. might evolve into an effective government of earth. It is possible that the U.S. Senate would ratify a treaty establishing a government of earth. Another path might be to amend the U.S. Constitution, which was not deemed necessary when the U.S. joined the United Nations.

Whether the United Nations constitutes a government is open to question. It is usually called, more generically, an international organization. It was created following the failure of the earlier League of Nations. During World War II the term United Nations became a term for the group of imperial powers (British Empire, American Empire, French Empire, Soviet Empire, plus China and lesser allies) who would win that war. At the Dunbarton Oaks Conference in 1944 the Americans, Soviets, British and Chinese agreed to form an international organization to replace the League of Nations (which the U.S. had refused to join, by a vote of the U.S. Senate, 49 to 35, failing to reach the 2/3 threshold, on March 19, 1920). That agreement was amended in 1945 at the San Francisco Conference, which included representatives of 50 nations. The result was the United Nations Charter.

The Charter is a long document, like a constitution, giving the United Nations a structure and mission, but limited power. The real power resides in the permanent members of the Security Council: the U.S.A., China, United Kingdom, France and U.S.S.R. (now the Russian federation). But even that real power is mainly negative, the ability to veto any proposed action. So for the most part the United Nations has been a discussion group. Its main purpose, to keep the peace, has not worked out well. Upholding human rights has been a goal, but often with no way to enforce the desired outcome. Wars have continued.

Did the U.N. Charter become part of the U.S. Constitution? No. Each nation had to ratify the Charter. In the U.S., that meant approval by the U.S. Senate under the treaty provision of the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 2):

"He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur;" Here He is the president, which in the case of the U.N. treaty was Harry Truman.

On July 28, 1945 the United States Senate ratified the Charter of the United Nations by a vote of 89 to 2. [See https://www.congress.gov/79/crecb/1945/07/28/GPO-CRECB-1945-pt6-21-1.pdf Pages 8142-8190.] It is worth quoting the words of Senator Robert F. Wagner, as they may apply as much today to the concept of national sovereignty and the need for an international EPA as they did then to the cause of peace. "Mr. President, I favor the ratification of the United Nations Charter. . . Mankind craves peace and tranquillity, the reign of law and justice in international conduct . . . What are the obstacles to success? It is not the unwillingness of the plain people anywhere. It is not their resistance which might cause us to fail as we failed once before. The obstacles have existed rather in the voluntary subservience of many of our statesmen to the slavery of words. They have been fettered by words like "sovereignty." They have been shackled by phrases like "liberty of action." They would hesitate to enter the Garden of Eden, until they knew the name of every tree that grew therein. And, as usual, there are those who have the uncanny capacity to find in our Constitution the letter that killeth instead of the spirit that giveth light."

Further, Wagner said "The twentieth century cries out for a newer and richer concept of the place of a nation in the family of nations. We must reach for practical devices that balance obligations with power, that place justice above self-will, and that replace isolationism with responsibility."

How much power can the Federal government give up to an international government of earth, simply by signing and ratifying a treaty? A two thirds vote of the Senate is a high bar, but the bar for passing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is higher still. I believe that the U.S. can delegate any power, but it cannot agree to an treaty that contradicts the Constitution. The U.S. has already signed several international agreements, including some aimed at protecting aspects of the environment. The problem is doing this piecemeal, and that the U.S. signing does not obligate others to sign. The U.S. also has refused to sign agreements, including, for instance, for belonging to the International Criminal Court.

Because of the power of the fossil fuel industry, and other polluters, in the United States, I would like our nation to be subject to international supervision respecting the environment. Of course the U.S. would have input into decision making. Of course the fossil fuel industry is global, and has global power. So preventing that industry from exercising any political power is important. In a democracy that can be done by mobilizing environmentally minded voters. In a dictatorship it would require convincing the dictator that it is time to cooperate with other nations. More specifically, I believe a 100% tax on the profits of fossil fuel producers, with those taxes used to fund the global EPA and preparations for long-term effects like sea-level rise, would be a good start.

So, we need the U.N. to propose a treaty giving it the power to establish a global EPA with sufficient power to enforce the global laws. We need to start preparing to get the U.S. Senate to agree to that treaty. Or we could pressure the Senate to work with the President to write the treaty, and then work to get the U.N. to adopt it and encourage its members to ratify it.

Easily said in three sentences, but it will likely take all the good people of the world demanding it, to see it done.

For the U.N. to evolve into an effective Government of Earth there will need to be pressure from the people of earth. Just knowing the world's environment is trending to disaster is not enough. Governments, including the U.N., are characterized by inertia. They need to be pushed to do what is right. Nations that can push the U.N. from within need to be identified. Nations that are used to bossing other nations around need to be pushed at from the lower levels of their political systems.

Please share these ideas as broadly as possible.