getting the governance we deserve

The United Nations is not the international organization that we need. To get it closer would require that we do away with the Security Council. Then we’d be left with a democratic institution made up mostly of nations who are autocratic. No. That won’t do.

What we need is an international organization of true democracies where representation is by population. Represented by population because people are what matters, not nation states. Population representation and the requirement of true democracies work hand in hand. It is the will of the people which drives national compliance with the decisions of the international organization.

It is an organization that can only come about through attraction. A starting democracy invites other true democracies to join. Joining democracies will have gotten consent from their own people. The member states would enjoy the benefits of true cooperation. Non-democracies would need to create internal democratic reform before being eligible for membership.

The United States would not be able to join because we are not a true democracy. Our undemocratic structures (Electoral College, Senate, filibuster, etc) are there because our founding was undemocratic. They were designed to protect power, not minority rights as claimed. Fixing this, becoming a true democracy, requires we start at the foundation, the Constitution. It is critical that a revised Constitution enshrines universal human rights that no majority may override, regardless of expedience or rationalization. This foundational document could also include heuristics for good government like the importance of urban folks remembering their dependence on the well-being of their rural brothers and sisters. We need to add the things that matter: ranked choice voting, public funding of campaigns, removal of political parties’ baked in access to ballots and governance structures.

Real public civic education is a must because democracies can only function with civic engagement. Education is a human right because it is required for human flourishing in our complex social structures. It must also include explicit education about civic engagement: how to be a good participant in the functioning of democracy. It must be provided by the collective body of the people.

We could be a true democracy participating in an international collaboration of democracies. Human cooperation on a global scale that prioritizes the well-being of humanity. And this is the point, human flourishing at every level: home town, state, the US, the world.

We can only make this work if we operate by attraction. People have to want to do this. Have to be willing to do this. We start small and build by attraction. And if this proposal fails? Then it fails honestly. We get the governance we deserve.

See Make Your Vote Matter for more on creating a democracy.