globalization 50-100 years from now i've written about this before but some family discussions have

prompted me to write again.. There are some pretty clear indicators we are globalizing but i would argue perhaps not in the best ways and in the best directions.. It's clear we humans waste too much resources on conflict/dominance. True, i would agree that American representative democracy / capitalism was better than Imperial Japan 70 years ago and that we should have won the war because of that inherent fact. But we must ask the question: why did communism fail in Russia but (somewhat) succeed in mainland China? Certainly not because communism is a 'broken system' to start with.. i propose that human greed destroyed the Russian communist system, more than anything, and if anything destroys the American capitalist system, it will also be greed / selfishness / taking advantage of 'the system'. Back to my prior point: we waste too much resources on conflict/dominance. What is the 'machinery' of war? Soldiers and weaponry. We cannot fight a war without an army and the technology that goes with it. We invest huge amounts of resources (capital) into 'national defense'.. Incredibly HUGE. But look at the words in that phrase: national defense. Pay attention to the one word: national with root word: nation. We put a LOT of money into 'defending our nation'. You cannot graduate from American high school without learning about American government and history. This is a fact of American life. It's a fact in any nation. One of my main points in this essay is that we spend too much energy and time pushing some form of nationalism. America the great. Yippee. Woo woo. i'm so proud to be American. Yea. Let's all wave the flag. [all said in a monotone voice] Sure America is great - i cannot argue that .. But the concept of 'nation' and nationality is actually holding us back from globalization/progress. The more we're proud of our particular nation, the more money we spend on national defense, the more we push any one particular nation (regardless if it's great or not), the more divided we become. Nationalism is divisive behavior. i admire a man/woman willing to give their life for their country. i admire career soldiers. It takes commitment, passion, and idealism. So when i say we should disband our armies, i'm not saying we should not reward soldiers; we need to compensate/recognize soldiers' incredible sacrifice by giving them a full pension. So when i say disband all military i also say give all soldiers full pensions. So it's absolutely clear, i'll repeat: disband military = full pension for all military. i believe this solves two major world problems: 1. military conflict between nations 2. over-spending on 'national defense' What's our alternative? Essentially we will 'run Earth into a ditch' by squandering resources on conflict. What can we do to change the situation? Very simple: education. Instead of American government and history being mandatory in high school, broaden the topics to be simply: forms of government and world history.. Stop spending money on military actions.. Stop

growing the military (by increasing military expenditures).. So it becomes education and reducing spending on military.. But we must make deliberate steps in both. Steps we can take to globalize effectively: 1. reduce emphasis in education on national identity 2. replace those topics with more holistic ones 3. reduce military spending, gradually if we must 4. gradually erase the notion of national boundaries by putting less importance on them; encouraging international workers 5. gradually erase the notion of nation itself 6. replacing it with ethnic/cultural identity 7. encouraging international marriages/relationships i believe the last item is typically underrated in value. Imagine the sheer power of a Muslim-Jewish couple. Their child is proof that love can overcome problems.. [Forgive me this moment - i must force back my own tears..] Sometimes i denigrate the perspective: love can solve all problems because it's oversimplistic and in that sense oversimplifies human beings and our problems.. Love is not the solution to all our problems.. But we can certainly 'make a dent in them' with it. The steps above are very concrete/objective/explicit about what we can do to improve our current situation.. My father was a teacher. My mother was a teacher. My oldest brother was a teacher. For short times, i also was a teacher.. So education 'runs in my family' for at least two generations.. So my understanding of 'the importance of education' is not so much 'pushing education' as knowing what you can do with it. We have the power to improve our situation; it's always been there; we just have to learn how to use it more effectively. With Love, sam