5th May 2023, London/England - Wishes 10 / 11 / 12

In the name of Peace and Justice.

I have three wishes today, which I present to you in the name of Peace and Justice - in the hope they may be fulfilled.

My first wish for today is about kings and queens, about royalty.

Royalty (and, by extension, nobility and aristocracy) has been a social phenomena that somehow, historically, developed quite naturally through the need of societies to be governed by a powerful leader. Traditionally, political leaders were strongmen, in a physical, military sense. Kings reigned through brute force.

Nowadays, we no longer want such strongmen to govern us. Today we believe in democracy, and we despise brute autocratic force. Strangely enough, in many countries (Liechtenstein, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, Spain, to name just a few) which consider themselves to be quite modern and advanced, monarchies still exist, in various forms. That's an anachronism in its purest form. It contradicts the very essence of democracy which is based on the assumption that all citizens are politically, socially and legally equal.

In Paradise, we don't want monarchs. Nor do we want any other form of institutionalized social privileges based on outlandish hereditary rights. We want Peace and Justice based on Human Rights.

It is my wish therefore that all forms of nobility, worldwide, be eradicated once and for all - and this, ideally, on a voluntary basis. It is my wish that all of today's monarchs come together and declare by common agreement that they abdicate and renounce to all their hereditary rights and titles, for the benefit of modern society, for the cause of Peace and Justice in this world.

Such is my first wish for today.

Which leads me quite naturally to my second wish for today, which is about governance, about the way a nation is being governed.

I mean: once all these monarchies of old will be transformed into modern democracies, what kind of political system will they adopt?

I have to admit that I'm quite biased in this respect. On the one hand I'm totally opposed to any political system where the responsibility of leading the country is divided between a head of state and a head of government, as this only leads to confusion and duplicity, to a lack of accountability and a lack efficiency. On the other hand I'm also totally opposed to so-called Presidential Systems, whereby one single person holds near-absolute power over many aspects of public life, legislation and the military. As a rule, presidents are elected by popular vote, which tends to turn elections into farcical events of populist showmanship.

In today's world, we neither need showmen nor duplicate stand-ins. We need professional bureaucrats and technocrats who know their business and do their job which they are paid for.

I like the Swiss system. In Switzerland, the government (which consists of exactly seven members, or ministers - not 9 or 16 or 35, but SEVEN) is elected by parliament, according to the relative strength of the political parties represented in parliament. No awkward, lengthy and futile "coalition negotiations" needed in this case. One of the seven ministers is nominated "President" for the duration of one year - he's still minister just like his colleagues in government, but in addition to this he's the one who presides joint ministerial meetings - and he's the one who enjoys the privilege of shaking hands with visiting dignitaries. After one year, another one of his colleagues is nominated "President" for the duration of one year.

My wish is that all of the ex-monarchies-to-be (and all other countries, for that matter) study the Swiss system and ponder the possibility of putting this system in place in their own country.

Which now brings me to my third wish for today.

To talk about an ideal government begs the question: what then is an ideal parliament? Parliament, after all, is the one political institution which defines the laws governing the country.

This is not the place where to argue about the advantages or disadvantages of unicameral and bicameral national parliaments, except maybe just to point out that it probably makes sense to limit oneself to a single chamber in the case of a small country, with a relatively small population, while in the case of a big country, with a big population, there are good reasons to work with two chambers, one representing the interests of the citizens at large, and the other one representing more the specific interests of a territory/province/region/state within the country.

My wish here concerns something quite different. While traditional parliaments defend the various national interests inside their country, the question is: Who actually defends the overlying supranational, international, global, universal interests of all of humanity, and all of nature? There is no such body, with strong legislative authority.

My wish is that, everywhere in the world, in every country, a new chamber of parliament be introduced, a Peace Chamber, with equal rights and legislative power as the other one or two existing chambers.

The function and the purpose of such new Peace Chamber would be, as already mentioned, to represent universal values on the quest to Peace and Justice in this world.

Some well-meaning but short-sighted nationalist politician might want to introduce a new law which at fist glance might be beneficial to the country but detrimental to the overlying interest of world peace - that would be the exact moment where the Peace Chamber would step in and stop the introduction of such law, in the name of Peace and Justice.

Such is my third and last wish for today. And with this I say, in the name of Peace and Justice: Thank you!