One Government to Rule Them All

Milky Way, Solar System, Planet Earth, 195 countries, 197-200 governments.

My first introduction to Star Trek is the movies starring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk. Over the years, Star Trek has become one of my favorite shows, and every time I watch either the movies or the show, the government in it has always captivated my wondering mind.

The United Federation of Planets, an interstellar governing entity with a space force called Starfleet. Unlike many people, my interest has always been the Federation rather than Starfleet. After watching the movies/shows, I often wonder, “What would it take for Earth to adopt a Federation-like governing entity?” My mind would quickly think about all the benefits of having a federation, and several of them, I thought, would be the biggest driving force if the world could ever adopt such a government.

• Aggregation of Resources
  • In my opinion, the current global economics operate at a trickle-down capitalism¹. Where the developed Western countries invest in the less developed third-world countries by purchasing land, raw materials, and even labor. This economy has, on many occasions, led to the “rich” countries becoming “richer” and the “poor” countries becoming “poorer.” Having a federation would mean the resources of the entire world would be distributed to where they are needed the most. Raw materials, labor, and currency would be dispersed based on necessity, not social status.
• Aggregation of Knowledge²
  • In 2023, the United States alone had awarded approximately 57,862 doctoral degrees across all disciplines of human knowledge³. If one country could produce this many candidates who have achieved the pinnacle of human education, imagine a whole continent, or think even bigger, the whole world with its 195 countries. A federation would be able to gather the best and the brightest of the entire human race to solve problems that are deemed too big or too difficult for one country alone to take on. If I were to hazard a guess, together, they could probably find a solution to global warming as easily as a medical doctor treating a common cold.
• Peace on Earth
  • One of the most prevalent proponents for war in the modern age is sovereignty and independence. Nations often want control over their own affairs, such as laws, economy, and military, rather than being ruled by others. Adopting a federation would eliminate this. The entire world ruled by one government, the battle over sovereignty would be eliminated, thus making war and conflict obsolete terms of English that would be long forgotten by the future human race.

These are some of the major benefits that I can think of for achieving a global governing entity. I understand there are potentially just as many or perhaps even more negative aspects to this. However, I am constrained by the limitations of the mini-essay and in the future⁴, I will write about the detriments as well.

References

A Mini-Essay on Mini-Essays

Footnotes