Political: Governing with values vs governing with interests

Governing with values vs governing with interests

A government can either govern its internal and foreign affairs with values or interests. Sadly in today’s world, governments lack values and they instead govern solely with interests. However the pursuit of interests is detrimental because it can go against one’s own values during which they are highly likely to compromise on their values to uphold their interests.

An American senator once said America has no friends, only interests. Today that has become true of every North American and European nation which are the only nations in the globe that proudly announce and proclaim as upholders and guardians of universal values such as justice and human rights. Not only do they have no friends, they have no (real) values either since they are willing to comprise on their values should it conflict with their interests.

Today North America and Europe stands behind Israel’s attrocities because it is in their interests to do so. The Zionist lobby within these regions are strong and influential because of the large influence Zionist corporations have in these western economies. These Zionist corporations leverage on the economic hegemony that they have in the western economies to establish political hegemony on the western nations’ foreign policies. Even though the atrocities of Israel runs counter to international law, basic human rights, regional peace, stability and security, Western nations are economically and politically hijacked to support Israel. As Mahathir not too long ago said “Jews rule the world by proxy” well he was actually implying “Zionists rule the world by proxy”.

We can see similar examples of how countries which manage to gain economic influence in Western nations are able use it to gain political influence. India in yester years had its nuclear program under much scrutiny and its refusal to sign the non-proliferation treaty earned nothing but criticisms. Today as India is an economic giant, offering wealth of opportunities for Western nations, India has been able to use this neuve economic influence to gain political influence for its nuclear program. The same can be said of China, etc.

Should the world be governed by interests and not values, then universal values that protect mankind such as justice, human rights, equality etc will break down as how they have today. Values never change. What is a value today will be a value tomorrow. Only people decide whether or not to adopt it. However interests change. What is not an interest today can be one tomorrow and what is an interest today can otherwise tomorrow. Should leaders build a world on such basis then instability and lack of security will be its hallmark. Interestingly the challenges that the pursuit of interests in governance will bring about can only be resolved with values. So someday the world will be forced to return to values and base its interests on values.