Many know (and most at least suspect) a truism that only a few will speak. This truism is that the United Nations has failed in its primary mission of mitigating conflict and has become nothing less than an internationally sanctioned version of the European Union administrative state equally practiced in corruption and redistribution of public money and just as prolific in the issuance of inane and useless proclamations.

A couple of days ago, Walter Russell Mead pointed out how little of a real effect the recent Obama administration enabled Security Council resolution against Israel will actually have on the progress of the Jewish state and how little it will actually help the so-called Palestinians:

“Palestinians have been organizing to fight Zionism for well over 100 years; during all that time the fundamental problems of the Palestinians have come from the weakness of Palestinian political leadership and the lack of capacity of Palestinian institutions.”

Mead’s point is that while the the UN action really doesn’t do material harm to Israel, it can’t hide the Palestinian’s collapse. I think it goes much farther than that – it amplifies the collapse and uselessness of the United Nations.

The UN violates its charter every day. It’s Charter states:

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED

• to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
• to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
• to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
• to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

AND FOR THESE ENDS

• to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
• to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
• ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
• to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.

Of these charter requirements, the UN has subjugated all others to promoting “social progress” and employing and “international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.”

While all that sounds stuffed animal cute and laudably honorable, one must remember those were also the goals of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

The UN is not about freedom – almost every country other than the US and the UK see it as some sort of global super-legislative body to be used to battle Western Culture and the liberty it provides. The only reason the UN hasn’t been completely taken over by the dictatorial impulses of member states is that the UK, France and the US are 3 of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council and have veto powers…and even then, France and the UK have often proven to be inconsistent allies.

Institutions destroy themselves by leaving their charters behind and pursuing goals they never were created to pursue. That’s what is wrong with universities – we have no need for institutions of teaching that don’t teach. There are no needs for religious institutions that have abandoned religious principles. Likewise, and to a lesser but growing degree, we have no use for sports organizations more concerned with “social justice” than the quality of entertainment product they produce. There are no needs for religious institutions that have abandoned religious principles.

You would leave and never go back to Jiffy-Lube for an oil change ever again.

If you accept that premise, why should we continue to go back to UN for the maintenance of peace, universities to educate our people or failing religious institutions for spiritual instruction?

Albert Einstein is said to have defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.

Apparently we are insane.