COMMUNICATION FROM ARKAY OF KORENDOR
Date of reception: 10 October 1988
Love and light, my Terran friends. My message -- my lesson, if you will -- for this evening concerns the ways and means of the "United Worlds Alliance", of which Korendor is but one of almost 740,000 member planets.
The UWA officially came into being about 650 of your years ago. At that time, Korendor, one of the founders of the UWA, and about 150 other planets that had for many years formed a loose trade and cultural union decided that a formal organization was called for, to handle the ever-mounting complexity presented by expanding horizons.
These worlds dispatched their highest officials to Korendor, where the First Conclave of Elder Masters took place, dedicated to the goal of uniting the planets into a single body devoted to furthering the common good.
After many days of negotiations, suggesting, considering, accepting, rejecting and compromising, the First Conclave issued the "Pact of Alliance", that rests to this day in the Hall of Archives on Arcturia.
This document laid the foundations for the United Worlds Alliance as it exists today. In its preamble are the most stirring words in our history and our present day. Allow me to offer them to you here.
WE, the divers planets of the vast realms of space, under the omnipotent guidance of the Infinite One, do hereby ordain that from this day forth, the divers worlds shall be united in the bonds of Alliance, Friendship and Beneficence.
WE do promise by this pact that we shall be:
A Light in the Darkness;
A Guide for the lost;
A Shelter for the homeless;
A Friend to the friendless;
A Doctor to the ill;
A Father to the young;
A Companion to the aged;
An Aid to the strong;
A Guardian for the weak.
OUR embrace encompasses all; none shall be refused; who come to us shall not be found wanting in our realm; who seek us out in time of trouble, we shall give help till order be restored; who join us in time of peace shall be welcomed with the hand of friendship; who choose to be our enemy shall not find us revengeful, yet we shall not be less than strong.
DEDICATION is our cornerstone, service our walls, love our roof. Within this edifice of truth let all come to rest, for a house without tenants is but a shell.
THEREFORE, by these words do we of this First Conclave pledge the allegiance of our divers worlds to the united good of all. By this pact do we join in inseparable bond, under the firm but gentle hand of the Infinite One, to forevermore be as one within this, the Universal Alliance, until our heart is stilled and our final breath no longer stirs. This we have decreed. So let it be through eternity.
With these inspiring words, the "Alliance of Worlds" was formed, 150 planets joined in a dream that has flourished these many centuries. The name has long since been "United Worlds Alliance", but the great visions of our founders are as fresh today as they were in that hallowed place that for almost 650 years has been a shrine that every Alliance citizen tries to visit at least once.
Earlier, I stated that the present count of Alliance worlds is about 740,000. Although that is the full number, the UWA is now split into five major "Divisions", of which Korendor's has 143,000. This segmenting was made necessary by the sheer enormity of the task of attempting to govern so many worlds under one "roof". The process of partitioning took place over four years, and was ended on your date of September 19, 1986. The system of government that I will now outline came about at the Conclave that carried out this mammoth operation.
The Council of Elder Masters is still the official ruling body of the full Alliance, but there are now five Sub-Councils that handle the matters within their respective Divisions. In turn, these are subdivided into Sector Councils that each control about 10,000 planets in a specific region of space. These are again segmented into Sub-Sectors, the lowest level of the official Alliance hierarchy. Each of them handles the affairs of 100 worlds in spatial proximity. This basic diagram illustrates this new format.
Despite the tiered structure, each Alliance planet remains essentially autonomous, having its own internal governing bodies and answerable to no others in matters of world policy. Only in matters of military power or the economy, or when its actions affect or involve another world in some way, does the Sub-Sector level take control.
In such cases, each Sub-Sector has as an integral part of its operations an Interplanetary Court of Affairs, in which inter-world business is formally transacted. This includes such matters as commerce or trade pacts, resource sharing, minor and major disputes (they do arise even in our highly advanced societies!), and any other dealings or problems requiring an arbiter, but not of a great enough significance to need the action of a higher court.
As the particulars of a given case increase in complexity or importance, the judgement level rises up the ladder until the Court of The Council of Elder Masters is called upon for a decision, approximating your Supreme Court.
At each level, an appeal can be presented by any involved party that might feel that a judgement was unfair or not in the best interest of all. This right extends even to the rulings of the Elder Masters, unlike your Supreme Court, whose verdict is not subject to appeal except in highly extraordinary cases.
It is possible that a decision reached at any level will be subject to change by a higher one, but only the court making the initial ruling can request that action after the appeal process has been exhausted.
Ordinarily, such instances will involve matters of interpretation of the law, as opposed to a clear-cut enforcement of it. To minimize this, and to make fair judgements simple, the next step in the re-organization is the convening of the "Law Commission".
Its 15,000 members are examining every Alliance law in effect at this time. Through exhaustive analysis by both the most brilliant legal minds in the Alliance, and by the huge LawBase computer complex on Arcturia, every regulation will be examined for merit, application, and ramifications.
At that time, any laws which have through disuse or obsolescence become of no value will be deleted outright. Any that have merit but are vaguely worded, or any that are considered too broad in scope, will be "flagged".
Those that pass the criteria of the Commission will be passed through the third phase without change other than rewording for clarity.
"Flagged" laws will be dealt with by the third restructuring process, the "Assembly for Alliance Law". This will consist of 10,000 members who will take each flagged law, tear it apart to find every flaw, discard any sections that are valueless, and then recodify the entire body of Alliance Law.
To gain some appreciation of the task we face, consider that in the 650 years of the Alliance, the laws and regulations that have come from that long-term bureaucracy number almost twenty million, a veritable legal nightmare.
The intention is to reduce the total to perhaps 100,000. This will be aided by massive purging of "special interest" laws that creep into any code over the years. It's also expected that half of them in some way duplicate others, and can be discarded.
More will disappear when all laws that sought to impose on planetary governments are rejected. An entire block of them dealing with the old Alliance structure is now passe. And so on to the glory of simplicity.
Our goal is a uniform, precise legal code that deals fairly with every Alliance matter without burying our adjudicators in mountains of laws. From then on, every potential law will be subject to this same scrutiny before enactment. We dislike repeating errors.
As well as the judicial and legal overhauling, every other function is being changed or eliminated.
The enforcement division of the UWA, which used to be the "Guardian Patrol", is now designated simply as "The Guardians". It has been split into civilian and military branches.
The former deals with internal Alliance business, and the latter is responsible for defense of Alliance interests wherever needed. There is of course some inevitable overlap, but in general the military end is involved in such affairs as the one here on Earth. Indeed, it is that branch that is now working against the Omegans on the 17 planets, including your Earth.
Also in the military section of the Guardians are the intelligence, espionage and infiltration operations. It is these, rather than the actual military, that are at work within your society. One couldn't ask for more dedicated, loyal and selfless men and women. I am deeply honored to know and love and work beside them.
Another segment of the old way that has been abandoned is the "New World Development Associates", the group that initially located and began working on Earth.
Master Kalen-Li RETAN, Lin-Erri Elani, Orii-Val and the others of Bob's long acquaintance were part of this organization, and in fact, until the revitalized Project Terra was initiated the NWDA had sole responsibility here.
The group's purpose was to locate planets, inhabited or otherwise, and to evaluate them as potential members if they bore intelligent life, or as being of some economic value if they didn't. Inasmuch as the NWDA's people shared in the returns from such discoveries, competition was fostered and they were a highly motivated crew.
The reasoning behind abandoning the NWDA was not that it was in any way inefficient, but rather that for at least fifty years it had been a mostly commercial operation only nominally under Alliance government control. In dissolving the group, the only real change was in severing its ties with the "feds" and turning it over to a private corporation. The new company now contracts to the Alliance for a profit. Capitalistic, but effective!
In essence, then, the new United Worlds Alliance is a phoenix risen from its own ashes of stagnation. From an aging, ponderous behemoth has emerged a new, lean, vital organization that will serve the needs of this galaxy for millenia to come.
The principle that guided us was simplification. Any function that might better be served by the "private sector", as you say, was given over to it. The UWA unburdened itself of many hundreds of bureaus and offices that came into being over the centuries to provide control over such matters.
The result is a "minimalist" government that restricts itself to law and enforcement. The improvement will be nothing short of amazing.
The "Alliance of the future" has arrived. To my mind, it has been far too long in the coming, and speaking for everyone of my acquaintance, it's as welcome as a new friend.
Our purpose here is to serve your people and your beautiful world. With the new Alliance, we're a giant step ahead.
My time is now ended for this message, but there's more to come.
Va i luce, and peace be yours.
I am ArKay.
© 2008 Robert P. Renaud -- all rights reserved