The idea of world peace is an important aspiration for all of us who reject any and all stealing of land or goods from one country by another. Border intrusions are always wrong if unprovoked. Defending one’s country is of course OK, but aggression is not.
Leaders of countries are prime villains in the creation of wars, since most citizens of all countries would rather not fight and die in an unnecessary war. Leaders who lead toward war want to be heroes and demonstrate their power, and this always leads to citizen deaths. Citizens in all countries should become more discerning about whom they elect, and keep out of office all leaders who are thin-skinned and who aspire to power. We should pay more attention to organizations that promote world peace, such as the United Nations, the Quakers of the world, and the Peace and Social Justice section of the American Psychological Association, the members of which do research about causes of peace and war. (I have not searched for others, but there are probably many more such organizations.)
The psychological qualities and attitudes that will be necessary for the achievement of world peace are:
- willingness to be satisfied with the borders of one’s country in exchange for guarantees of peace
- having a neutral if not positive expectation of the citizens of other countries (not fearfulness of others in general)
- a wish that citizens of other countries can have good lives
- skepticism about any leaders’ attempts to create hatred of others and all other justifications for aggression against other countries
For enduring peace, it may be necessary for all countries to join together to either invest in poorer countries so they can create decent lives for their citizens or to redistribute wealth so that the citizens in all countries have at least a decent life. This will not be equal incomes or wealth, since we still must honor individual effort and determination to make things better, but it is unacceptable to have significant numbers of citizens of the world die of starvation and disease.
I will treat other countries with respect and courtesy, while standing up for equal treatment for the U.S. I will propose and organize a treaty organization for world peace, by which all signatories promise to militarily support any member country that is attacked by another country (member or non-member). If any major countries sign onto this, it should be sufficient to control the inclinations of aggressive dictators to take from or take over other countries. We in the U.S. do not wish to take from other countries, so to belong to this treaty organization is not to give up any of our nation’s sovereignty
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