Star Trek: The Prime Directive as an Amendment to the US Constitution

I have been thinking about how much the United States Government has been meddling in the affairs of other countries. I am also a huge fan of the Star Trek Franchise and the positive future that the show envisions for the future of humanity. One of the most appealing things about Star Trek is General Order One more commonly known as the Prime Directive.

The Prime Directive is essentially a mandate to avoid interference with the natural development of alien cultures and in the case of member planets to not interfere with matters that are purely an internal affair such as conflicts of government and culture.

Personally I find this a beautiful and elegant philosophy. So much so that I think a directive like this would be a wonderful amendment to our United States Constitution. Can you imagine if the United States simply stayed out of conflicts in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia? I for one would gain a great deal of respect for my Government if we would just stay out of other people's business.

Would it benefit the United States to take a lesson from Star Trek and keep our alphabet agencies, military and money out of other countries business? Would it not be great to make it illegal for the CIA and other agencies to influence other cultures? I am not saying spying should be illegal, but certainly manipulation should be in my opinion.

What do you think ATS?

The Prime Directive

reply to post by Metallicus


Great idea and would be nice to think about and consider. To be honest with you though, It'll never happen. There too much money to be made in war and the United States knows it. Also the United States uses war as a way to spout domestic propaganda.

-SAP-

reply to post by Metallicus


I'm pretty sure the US will invade extraterrestrial civilizations to 'liberate' them and install 'democracy' like what they they did to Iraq and Afghanistan

In fact here's how I picture how the US handles extraterrestrial civilizations

reply to post by Metallicus


I think the problem is that it's tempting to think the US is the puppet master at times and the other nations aren't messing in each others affairs (and ours) as actively for their own national interests as we traditionally have for ours.

I think most can agree it's gotten so far out of hand over the last 13 years that it's hard to remember what this nation at total peace was like....(wistful thoughts of another time...not that distant) but the US gets bested by others as much as not these days. After all, we can't be masters of the world and a nation in clear decline at the same time. Something didn't work out so well somewhere in that whole plan. lol....

reply to post by Metallicus


I only read the title and I'm all for it, WOWW I can't wait to read how our fellow ATSers respond to this one ,this conversation can go in a couple of different directions. I'll check in later after some in depth readings on everyone else's take on it.

Yep, it would break as soon as a country that was failing economically and begging for help was denied help by the mean old nasty USA and then you'd be monsters for letting the poor poverty stricken less fortunate countries collapse.

Unless we have a kirk-dude to "damn the rules spock" and interfere anyway.

But then what do you do to appease the hippies... "Leave the poor alone. Save the poor. Only the 1% aren't poor. Do you like my iphone?"

Star Trek in general (TNG anyways) was a moral and ethical crusade, with huge undertones of liberal ideaology in all its grandeur. The funny thing, is many of the "solutions" Gene saw in the long future, have since come and gone being the ideas of the time (80s-90s) that many thought were cure alls, but quickly faded into obscurity as they proved ineffective.

The hypocrisy of the Prime Directive.

Also, the Prime Directive was supposedly the "Master Rule", the one rule to rule them all, yet, it was the most commonly broken rule, which in a sense is a shot to bureaucratic hypocrisy I suppose.

There were also occasions when they tried to highlight backwards thinking by having races of female dominated matriarchs that kept male slaves, or black worlds with tribal rule who lusted to kill everything in site.

It's kinda like a bad characterization of everything the writers saw as "evil" and apparently, the crew and everyone in Starfleet was somehow more civilized and more intellectual, even though they all suffered the same character traits as most of the "dumb" worlds they came across.

Thank you for all the replies and a lot of things to think about. I am not sure if the US Goverment is actually the evil entity or if it is the European bankers that ultimately pull the strings. Somehow it would let me sleep better at night if we had a little more Star Trek philosophy in our government.

I think it was funny how one of you pointed out that the US would still be evil if we didn't involve ourselves in conflicts where the poor or even ethnic minorities were being abused. The US probably can't win no matter what they do, but at least a position of non-interference could be better justified than sticking our nose into every conflict on Earth.

Ultimately I think that non-interference is probably at the root of why superior alien races aren't going to help us solve our problems. We are going to have to take responsibility for our own problems eventually.

They adopted some parts of ST but others they left out ha ha

reply to post by Metallicus


Do you know WHY we "meddle" in such affairs? Do you think we do it just for fun? That's what you'd need to examine to understand the ramifications of such a policy. The world of Star Trek has interstellar travel (i.e. unlimited resources and no need for money). This is a FAR cry from our current reality.

We "meddle" because we need to protect the value of the dollar. Without such "meddling", the dollars in your pocket and bank account would rapidly lose their purchasing power. Do you want to go to the store and spend $20 for a loaf of bread? If you don't mind that, then by all means....advocate such a policy.

As some have pointed out, EVERY nation will interfere with others, when their interests are at stake. The US certainly isn't alone in this. Just look at Russia, China, Britain, North Korea, Japan, etc. You can easily find PLENTY of examples.

reply to post by Metallicus

I am not sure if the US Goverment is actually the evil entity or if it is the European bankers that ultimately pull the strings.

I don't think any entity is "evil" or intended to become so. Problem is, when they decided money would be backed by FAITH rather than GOLD, this worked fine as long as growth was sustained. But, when the bubble burst, this whole concept was revealed to be flawed. We're in the process of fixing the flaw, but so far, our only idea of HOW to do this is by maintaining the FAITH. So, if some nations start deciding to go off the dollar as a base currency, it is in Uncle Sam's best interests to do everything to ensure that DOESN'T happen, or others may lose that FAITH, and thus cause the dollar to plummet. And, if the world's largest economy plummets, well, that simply starts the dominoes tumbling.... So, the UN as a whole realizes this as well, and strives to keep that house of cards upright.