International | World | Economist.com

International | World | Economist.com

I would recommend reading the "Economist" article above. Iraq is on the verge of civil war, there is genocide in the Sudan, Zimbabwe is falling apart, there are race-related riots in China and South Africa, piracy still occurs in the Mediterranean, terrorism could break out at any moment and, all in all, all does not seem right with the world, and yet the United Nations is devoting itself to a campaign to outlaw paddles. Maybe I am not being fair; I can only assume that they have a team working around the clock on all of the issues mentioned above. But I have very little faith in their ability to produce results in any of these areas. The United Nations may have devoted a great deal of effort to stopping genocide in Darfur, but, ultimately, an organization must be judged by what comes out of its efforts, not what goes into them.

I have no objection to national bodies or alliances. I am not necessarily opposed to the United States' involvement in the United Nations. John Bolton (in my opinion) was a horrible choice for ambassador; if we are going to engage with the United Nations, then we ought to do so meaningfully. Furthermore, international alliances have consistently proved effective enough in the past: think of NAFTA, NATO, the European Union (with qualifications), even (going back to the classical period) the Delphic League had its benefits. But the reason that these organizations work. But the reason that these organizations work, at least to some degree, is that they recognize that, in spite of their difference, they are capable of working toward common purposes. With the United Nations it is the opposite: The nations who compose its membership want to work toward different purposes while, at the same time, doing away with all differences.

The United Nations needs to get its act together and, before attempting to dictate to parents how they should raise their children, concentrate on how to raise itself from the self-parody which it has become.