Reiniers: The erosion of U.S. leadership
In a utopian world, no one country would be a threat to the freedom of its neighbors. The wise leadership of the United Nations seamlessly would resolve all disputes between countries and encourage harmonious compromise and spiritual unity. Every young Democrat on campus, as well as progressives, believes this is an attainable goal. Kumbaya is the answer to Rodney King’s timeless question, “Can’t we all get along?
To that end, next year the Obama administration will give U.S. control of the internet to global governance by the United Nations. Currently the Internet Corporation, a non-profit, is under the oversight of the Department of Commerce. It will abandon its oversight role simply by not renewing its contract with the Internet Corporation. One can be sure that aggressive countries like Russia, China and Iran then will demand cyber sovereignty from the U.N. to stifle political dissent in their countries. As Sen. Marco Rubio noted: “Russia and China are not exactly bastions of Internet freedom.”
Giving away the Internet’s architecture easily could open the door to a global use tax, not to mention the potential for security breaches harming both the Internet itself and the United States. (Eric Snowden wannabes).
This decision is just one of an overall pattern of the administration voluntarily relinquishing the U.S. global leadership role because of objections from other countries. (This is a tricky issue because it is often a judgment call as to whether U.S. interests are involved in international disputes, and even conservatives do not want the U.S. to be the world’s policeman.)
This decision comports with the larger objective of today’s liberal progressives to favor international governance. Other more subtle indicia are the administration’s advocacy of open borders, and the doctrine of leading from behind when international disputes arise.
This philosophy clearly is in sync with that of democratic socialists. A reading of the DSA website (Democratic Socialists of America) is instructive. It reads, in part: “Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically – to meet public needs – not to make profits for a few”. To achieve this “just” society, they say, the structures of government “must be radically transformed.” They believe “social and economic decisions should be made by those whom they most affect” – not by those who pay for it. So those who receive government entitlements should make the rules.
Socialists realize that capitalism has gone global which is anathema to them, so the only way to counteract this economic force is for them to go global, too. The U.N. fits the bill nicely. Labels don’t interest me, but ideology does. Many people are inclined toward socialism but either don’t realize it or don’t use the label.
Modern socialism emerged in France in the 19th century out of the French trade union movement. Because the founding members were of many nationalities, they sought to unite from the beginning as an international organization, as did the U.N. The second socialist International was based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which is where, coincidentally, President Obama just arrived as I write this – a country where Obama’s popularity is huge. Recall his campaign speech in Europe in 2008 when he campaigned for U.S. president -being dubbed an honorary European by the media – after dazzling an audience of 200,000 fans with his exhortation, “People of the world, this is our moment! This is our time!”
These are the words of an internationalist who views big government as a means to an end. The U.N. would do nicely as the world government. As Obama said: “The trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence some redistribution because I believe in redistribution.”
To get this into context to demonstrate the probability of a U.N. global tax on the internet, as far back as 2009, the renowned Joseph Stiglitz, a U.S. Nobel prize-winning progressive economist and adviser to the U.N., laid the foundation for a world government supported by global taxes. His work focuses on public economics and income redistribution.
In 2009, Stiglitz was appointed to chair the U.N. Commission on Reforms of the International Financial and Monetary System by Nicaraguan communist Miguel d’Escoto Brockman, president of the United Nations General Assembly. A prolific author, his latest New York Times’ best seller was “The Price of Inequality” (2012). To get this in better context, Stiglist was chair of Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, chief economist at the World Bank and adviser to the Democratic Party and the Obama Administration. This staunch progressive Democrat also authored “Making Globalization Work,” calling for a myriad of reforms including global taxation.
Giving away the Internet – the social media – is just another example of how out of touch progressive liberals are. We are in the sixth year of apologizing for America. Look where it has gotten us. By asserting no leadership and fading into the background of nations, we have left a tempting vacuum for the bad guys and the like-minded in the failed United Nations.
By definition being president is to be a leader. The electorate expects our president to be the person people follow – to direct and guide others both on the national and international stages.
“A man who wants to lead the orchestra must first turn his back on the crowd” (Max Lucado).
John Reiniers is a retired attorney and regular contributor who lives in Spring Hill. Email him at [email protected].
