In a world of democracies, the most deserving basis of national differences is that the different states of the world should represent a form of moral specialisation within humanity.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.
A formally recognized equality does, however, accord the smaller nations a position which they should be able to use increasingly in the interest of humanity as a whole and in the service of the ideal.
The problem with the United Nations is that while democracy within nations is the best available form of government, democracy among nations can be a moral disaster - especially if some nations are not democracies.
Nations have always good reasons for being what they are, and the best of all is that they cannot be otherwise.
It is important to remember that some of the most serious thinkers once thought that democracy was not compatible with the cultures of Germany, Italy, Japan, Latin America and Russia.
Democracy rests upon two pillars: one, the principle that all men are equally entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and the other, the conviction that such equal opportunity will most advance civilization.
Democracy may have arisen in the West as the way of striving for the universal aspiration to dignity and freedom, but it isn't alien to the underlying concepts that infuse religion and moral philosophy everywhere.
It has been said that a nation reveals its character by the values it upholds.
States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.
Nations, like individuals in a state of nature, are equal and independent, possessing certain rights and owing certain duties to each other.