Scrap the U.N., create League of Democracies

And because the U.N. feels it must be "fair" to everybody, the worst abusers get to take turns determining policies on human rights and weapons proliferation. Right before the war, Iraq was set to co-chair the U.N. Commission on Disarmament - with Iran! And even now the U.N. Commission on Human Rights is chock-a-block with representatives of nations that treat their own citizens like piñatas.

My solution: Competition. Why not create a new multinational organization that has members who share common ideals and that isn't based on the antiquated assumptions of 50 years ago. In this League of Democracies, membership would be restricted to countries with democratic values and the rule of law. This wouldn't be the "West versus the rest" either. Japan, India, South Korea, South Africa and others could be members.

Right now the U.N. bureaucracy, led by Kofi Annan, wants its own army to do social work around the world. The problem is few oppressed people trust the "blue helmets" to be effective, and few Western nations are willing to tolerate their own troops fighting under Annan's flag.

At the same time NATO, which is already the military wing of the world's leading democracies, is desperately in search of a new mission, particularly at this moment when the European Union is pondering developing a separate military force. A League of Democracies could solve both problems. It could speak with moral authority, and it would have the military might to back it up.

Being a member of LD would have obvious advantages in terms of trade and mutual defense. And since it just so happens that the richest countries in the world tend to be the freest, we might be able to augment the sort of virtuous cycle that already causes nations like Turkey to institute reform so they can join the European Union.

Now, obviously this couldn't happen overnight. But it wouldn't need to. Just talking about it would shake up the United Nations and remind the world of that institution's shortcomings. But, if we actually did it, we might finally be able to get the U.N. out of the U.S. and the U.S. out of the U.N.