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IS THEREA PERFECT
GOVERNMENT?
1/6,000
years ofhuman experience have shown one thing, it is this: No human government has been
ab/e to achieve lasting peace or prosperity! Why?
W
HY HAVE human gov–
ernments failed so
miserably throughout
history? Why have they been so
unsuccessful in achieving the two
chief goals they set for them–
selves: peace and prosperity?
The answer to this enigma was
formally addressed by
Plain
Truth
Editor-in-Chief Herbert
W. Armstrong at a unique con–
ference in March, 1977.
A Conference Unlque in Hlstory
The conference was held in
Windhoek, the administrative
center of South-West Africa, also
known as Namibia.
Eleven delegations from the 11
population groups that make up
the 900,000 inhabitants of South–
West Africa were gathered in the
historie Turnhalle assembly
building in Windhoek. Their ob–
jective: to forge a just constitu–
tion for their country.
A former German colony,
South-West Africa has been gov–
erned by the nation of South
Africa since 1920. It was sched–
uled to receive its independence
at the end of 1977.
The " Turnhalle conference"
was first convened in September,
1975. It had been compared by
many to the convention that
wrote the United States Constitu–
tion nearly two centuries earlier.
Mr. Armstrong was the first
foreigner and religious Jeader
invited to speak to the assem–
blage. More than 40 delegates
and other high-ranking officials
gathered for his address.
Mr. Armstrong began by re–
viewing before the delegates the
September 1980
by
Keith W. Stump
entire span of human history. He
explained from the Bible how the
great archangel we know as Luci–
fer (who became Satan)
rejected
the government and the law of
God. And how, later, the first
man, Adam, rejected the way of
God and chose to follow the way
of Satan.
He related also how Adam's
descendants, cut off from contact
with God, have chosen instead to
pursue their own way- the self–
centered, competitive way of
"GET"-rather than the God-cen–
tered, outgoing way of "LOVE" or
"GIVE."
"This is the background that
has led up to today and all of its
evils," Mr. Armstrong summa–
rized.
He observed that God , in etfect,
sentenced
Adam and his descen–
dants to form their own govern–
ments, based on the "GET" princi–
pie. Throughout history the human,
civil governments, he said, have
become a punishment for rejecting
God's divine government!
Mr. Armstrong then told the
assembled delegates they had the
unique opportunity to form a
human government more nearly
based on God's way of life-the
way of outgoing concern for each
of their 11 population groups, of
serving, cooperating and sharing
for the good a nd welfare of
others.
"God help you to do the best
job that can be done and to form
the finest government that has
ever been formed in the history of
mankind on this earth," Mr.
Armstrong exhorted the confer–
ence. This should be a govern-
ment, he added, that would be
fair and just for every person,
without regard for race or other
considerations.
Record of Hlstory
Events in the aftermath of the
Turnhalle conference did not pro–
ceed in the way its delegates had
hoped. Interference by outside
powers delayed South-West Afri–
ca's independence. Guerrilla war–
fare escalated. Current talks on
the future of the diamond-and
uranium-rich territory are now
stalled. South-West Africa re–
mains in a state of political and
social ferment.
Unfortunately, this scenario fits
well into the sorry, 6,000-year
record of man's history. In recent
times, as in ages past, man's
attempts to cometo grips with the
problem of government have been
thwarted by problems beyond
human capacity to control.
For millennia, leaders of hones–
ty and integri ty have tried to
grapple with the immense prob–
lems of government. These men
have tried to find responsible
solutions, have tried to make the
world better. But forces seeming–
ly beyond their control have frus–
trated their etforts at every turn.
Regardless of their methods of
achieving them, governments
claim to have the same basic goals.
The primary aims of human gov–
ernment are peace and prosperi ty,
often collectively referred toas the
"common good." Through history,
governme nts have set about
achieving these objectives in many
ditferent ways.
But no government in history
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