Are you a citizen of the world?

Opinion

“Global citizenship is the idea that all people have rights and civic responsibilities that come with being a member of the world, with whole-world philosophy and sensibilities, rather than as a citizen of a particular nation or place. The idea is that one’s identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: ‘humanity’. This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives their nationality.” -- Wikipedia

That’s a lot of very high sounding ideals, but to truly understand it, we have to look at some real world examples.

John Paul Jones was a self-declared “Citizen of the World”. In practice he was a buccaneer, hell-bent on punishing the English for their defeat of the Scots, John Paul’s patrinomy. He changed his name to Jones while on the lam from English law for a murder charge and took up arms with the American colonists. No, he wasn’t fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. He was venting his spleen on the British. When the Revolution ended, George Washington and other Founding Fathers decided that they had to get rid of the feisty naval hero. As Washington proclaimed, “We need at least twenty years of peace to build our new nation,” and there wouldn’t be any peace with Captain Jones prowling the oceans in an American warship. Thus, they arranged for him to serve Catherine the Great of Russia as admiral of her Black Sea fleet purportedly to gain experience to command an American fleet when one could be built. Every time Jones attempted to return to take command of this fleet, Washington found other errands for him and Jones died in Paris without ever getting the opportunity.

---

Ernesto Che Guevara was another. He hated America and free market capitalism as much as John Paul hated Britain. Long before he met Fidel Castro, Che had fallen in with the Communists. The KGB station director in Mexico City recruited Che and sent him to Moscow for special training. He then arranged a meeting between Fidel, who had resisted recruitment, and Che when he returned to Mexico. They became friends, though Fidel was never “sufficiently revolutionary” for Che’s tastes. When Fidel’s revolution in Cuba culminated in success, he courted American sponsorship. Realizing that a rabid communist in his camp wasn’t helping, Fidel shipped Che off to Africa to foment revolution there. When the Africans grew tired of the “White Tarzan”, Fidel shipped him off to South America. (Sounds similar to John Paul Jones, doesn’t it?) Finally, when the CIA was closing in on Che, the Bolivian Communists wrote to Fidel for instructions and he wrote back instructing them to abandon Che, “Don’t give him anything, not so much as an aspirin.”

---

Berlin, 2008

BSA Merit Badge

Such has been the fate of these “Citizens of the World”, and yet we are being exhorted all to become Citizens of the World. As then Candidate Obama proclaimed in his 2008 speech in Berlin, “I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.” The UN likewise has taken up the mantle of encouraging all people to become citizens of the world. Even the Boy Scouts have established a merit badge to promote it among the nation’s youth (as if they aren’t exposed to the concept in every public school in America).

---

“Albert Einstein described himself as a world citizen and supported the idea throughout his life,[48] famously saying ‘Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.’ World citizenship has been promoted by distinguished people including Garry Davis, who lived for 60 years as a citizen of no nation, only the world. Davis founded the World Service Authority in Washington, DC, which sells World Passports, a fantasy passport to world citizens. In 1956 Hugh J. Schonfield founded the Commonwealth of World Citizens, later known by its Esperanto name ‘Mondcivitana Respubliko’, which also issued a world passport; it declined after the 1980s.” -- Wikipedia

So, what’s the downside? What’s not to like about citizens of the world. Surely we’ve moved past the history of John Paul Jones and Che. Yes, we have, and now it’s worse.

A planet populated by citizens of the world cannot have borders. That’s a lesson that is being drilled into us today. Ultimately, it is a world with one government, a lesson not yet embraced beyond the political elite. We’ve seen a world without borders.

California has been experimenting with it during the past decade. How has that worked out? For one thing, it is now a single party state. Much like the now defunct Soviet Union, the Democrats rule without any serious opposition, and they pass freedom-devouring laws with alacrity. The result is seen in growing lawlessness and pestilence in the streets. The states debt has grown beyond all possibility of repayment. Diseases not seen since biblical times are emerging in the teeming masses of homeless people loitering on the streets and camping out on the beaches. Inasmuch as there is no sign of relief, the logical conclusion may be the quarantine of the city if not the state.

Overstatement? Likely. But how else am I to get anyone’s attention? We the People are so inured to the ridiculous, it may take the absurd to prompt us to action.

The progressive Left have already been frightened, motivated to step up the assault. Horror felt across the nation and shock was felt around the world when America elected a rabid nationalist, President Donald J. Trump, is felt most keenly by the progressive Left and their shills in the Democratic party as well as the cultural and news media. What many perceive as a reprieve from the rise of the Left may, in fact, turn out to be the lull before a mightier storm, a greater assault on the culture and Constitution of the United States.

Surely, everyone can see the Left pulling out all of the stops in preparation for the election in 2020. They will retake the White House and Congress. Their candidates are vying to outdo each other with ever more insaner proposals to put a stake through the heart of freedom.
​
Freedom. That’s what it’s all about. The Left believes that We can’t be trusted with it, and they have plenty of people clamoring to surrender freedom in exchange for freedom from responsibility. And if we don’t begin fighting as though we are engaged in a Civil War, we will join them as mere subjects, no longer citizens.