A World Where Your Vote Will Count
by Paul VanRaden
© 2004
See also:
Governing
a United Earth (2023)
United
Earth Rules (2024)
All those
other constitutions are documents that say:
'We, the
government, allow the people the following rights,'
and our
constitution says
'We, the
people, allow the government the following privileges and rights.'
Ronald
Reagan, February 5, 1981
Constitutions
The United States
constitution is a well-known but old plan for democracy. In the old days, constitutional
reform was easy. The original Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
introduced as U.S. law in 1778 were completely revised just 11 years later and
replaced by the 1789 constitution. The first 10 amendments (the bill of rights)
were passed just two years later in 1791. Many other constitutional problems
were solved by amendments, but the larger problem of slavery was solved only by
the 1860-64 civil war. Major amendments such as 15 and 19 were passed in 1870
and 1920, with the hope of allowing all races and both sexes to vote.
Constitutional reform comes slow now, while society changes fast.
Recent amendments to the U.S. constitution made smaller changes, and amendment
18 that outlawed alcohol in 1919 was simply reversed by amendment 21 that let
people drink again in 1951. Constitutional law gave the United States a stable
government for over 200 years after separating from Great Britain. Few
Americans see any need to change, because they think that change is too
difficult, or they feel that the risk of change is too great, or they may not
be aware of the serious problems that remain.
You say
you want a revolution ...
You say
you'll change the constitution.
from the
song Revolution by The Beatles, 1968
Problems
The U.S. constitution has several problems that deserve to be
fixed:
1) Two different sets of lawmakers (the house of representatives and
the senate) vote separately on two different sets of bills. Further changes are
introduced by conference committees. After this, the executive branch (the
president) may veto the work of the legislative branch, who may vote again to
over-ride the veto. Then, the judicial branch may declare all or part of any
new or old law unconstitutional using any theory the courts invent. This whole
process is slow, inefficient, and hard for voters to monitor.
2) The principle of one person, one vote is ignored in the senate.
Each state gets the same number of votes (2) in the U.S. senate even tho 50
times more people live in California than in Vermont. People from small states
demanded and got an unfair compromise when Article 1, section 3 of the U.S.
constitution was written. For over two centuries of counting votes in the
senate, states with small populations have had much more power than they
deserved.
3) The U.S. constitution gives far too much power to one person.
As a result, presidential elections focus on the personal characteristics of
two candidates instead of real issues concerning voters. The second most
popular candidate in the election gets no power in the government. Third
parties have little chance to be heard and almost no chance to win or to share
in power. The more modern constitutions of other nations give voters more
choices and have several winners that share power.
4) In presidential elections, the most popular candidate does not
win. Recent examples when the first choice was defeated by the second choice
were in 2000 when most voters chose Al Gore, but George W. Bush became
president and in 2016 when most voters chose Hillary Clinton, but Donald Trump
became president. Again, the bad compromise in article 2, section 1 of the 1789
constitution gave voters in small states more influence than they deserve when
electing the nation’s president. Since 2007, many states in the northeast, the
west coast, Illinois, and Minnesota will change their state’s votes to the
winner of the National Popular Vote
when states with 270 electoral votes agree. As of 2024, 18 states with 209
electoral votes have passed the law, but no major states with Republican
majorities have because most Republicans no longer believe that each person’s
vote should count equally.
5) The titles of many office holders are not very descriptive. The
vice-president of the United States is the president of the senate, but rarely
actually presides over the senate. In the U.S., the secretaries are the bosses
over the executive departments. In many other countries, ministers are in
charge of governments.
6) The U.S. constitution
does not say whether states may secede if they no longer wish to be part of the
union. This serious defect in the law contributed to a very bloody civil war.
The previous laws, the 1778 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, more
clearly implied that states could not leave the union after they joined it. The
articles of confederation also invited Canada to join the union.
The United Nations charter has many, more serious problems.
1) In the U.N. charter, only nations count, not people. The basic
principle of one person, one vote is never used at the United Nations. When
votes are counted in the security council and in the general assembly, a
nation’s population size and number of voters are always ignored.
2) A dictator that won’t count votes within his own nation gets to
vote at the United Nations, and his vote is given equal credit to a vote from
any elected government.
3) Five of the nations that won the second world war (the United
States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and China) kept permanent
power by declaring themselves to be permanent members of the security council.
When the Soviet Union disappeared, Russia inherited its permanent membership
card. All other nations take turns sharing any power not reserved by the
permanent members for themselves.
4) The five permanent
members of the security council each have veto power over resolutions,
amendments to the charter, or appointment of the secretary-general. This
severely limits the United Nations’ ability to act, to change, or to
choose strong leaders.
"It
is preposterous to presume that the people of one generation
can lay
down the best and only rules of government
for all
who are to come after them"
Ulysses
S. Grant, 1885
Votes
Will your vote make a difference? About ½ of Americans already
have decided that taking an hour or two to vote, even once every four years, is
not worth their time. Only about 1/3 of Americans vote for senators and
representatives in the elections held every two years between presidential
elections. In the United States and in some other democracies, elections
provide limited choices and few good reasons to vote. In less democratic
nations and in world government, people may have no choices because many national
and international leaders still are not elected directly.
When the votes are counted to elect a president, or a governor, or
a senator, or any election where one winner is chosen from each district, an
individual’s vote in fact makes no difference unless the election is a tie or
is decided by only one or two votes. Only in these very rare cases does each
vote make a difference. In large state or national elections where millions of
people vote, the chances are nearly 100% that your vote will not decide
who wins and who gets power, because the winner will beat the loser by more
than just your vote.
If the election is not very close, why bother to vote? If your
favorite candidates have no chance to win, why should you vote for them? If
none of the candidates share your beliefs, why should you vote at all?
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution,
Take a bow
for the new revolution.
from the song Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who, 1971
Elections
Election laws will be changed, and then your vote will count.
Solutions are simple.
1) Elected officials will have power only in proportion to the
vote count, not the census count. If you vote for your representatives, their
influence in the government will increase. Their votes will get more credit
because you voted for them, not simply because you exist and were counted in a
census.
2) Winner-take-all elections will be replaced by proportional
representation and power sharing such as used in modern democracies. Voters in
the democratic nations of Europe, Asia, South America, and Oceania elect more
than one winner per region or nation, and the winners share power based on the
number of votes received. Only Jamaica, Canada, and the United States use the
older style winner-take-all elections that countries with newer constitutions
have chosen not to adopt.
3) One person will get one vote and all votes will count equally.
People will share power based on the number of votes counted, not the area of
land controlled. States and territories will have power only in proportion to
the number of voters that live there.
4) Election laws that make sense for governing cities, states, and
nations will also be used for governing the world. International law will be
based on the same basic rules of democracy. Power will be shared by the people
of the world according to population size and number of voters within each
nation. The United Nations Charter will be completely revised so that each
voter in the world will be counted.
5) No national government will be allowed to vote in international
elections if it does not allow its own citizens to vote. United Nations
delegates will be directly elected by the people instead of appointed by the
national government, similar to election of United States senators instead of
allowing them to be appointed by state governments.
All adults will have the right to vote in future elections, but
many can’t vote today. Some national governments in Africa and Asia still
refuse to count their citizens’ votes or force all citizens to vote for just
one candidate. Other governments in Europe, the Americas, and Oceania also
refuse to count the votes of Africans and Asians by declaring them to be
non-citizens and deporting them. See The
Right To Migrate for a solution to that problem. The present report
proposes new rules for counting votes and governing society within and across
the nations of our world.
Solutions
Real change really is possible, and progress today should be
easier than in the past. In revolutionary wars, civil wars, and world wars,
brave people gave their lives to give others the right to vote. But violence is
not needed for change to occur. After only a cold war, many communist
governments disappeared. White people finally did vote yes to let black people
vote. Men finally did vote yes to let women vote.
People in small states
finally will vote yes to let people in big states have equal representation.
Elected officials finally will take power away from kings, queens, dictators
for life, military rulers, and single-party states. Constitutions will be
written, amended, re-written, and adopted by the people. Recent work to develop
a constitution for Europe may serve as a model for the world. The majority of
earth’s voters will be heard. Your vote will count.
Politics could become a subject worthy of study. Politician could
be a job title that people could look up to and that many would want to compete
for. Salaries and bonuses for politicians could be increased to be competitive
with other top professions if new election laws provide lawmakers that better
represent and are respected by the populations they serve. With modern
communication, lawmakers might continue to live in their districts and cast
votes by e-mail instead of living in capital cities and concentrating power
there. Democracy could evolve instead of being stuck in the past.
“We have
it in our power to begin the world over again”
Thomas
Paine, Common Sense, January 10, 1776
Conclusions
The idea of democracy began thousands of years ago, but most
nations did not have democratic governments until recent decades. The laws of
democratic nations have improved greatly over the last two centuries, but still
have some very serious flaws. This report attempted to solve some remaining
problems of democracy by proposing new laws to govern people and nations.
Americans declared independence from the King of Great Britain in
1776. In today’s more democratic world and global economy, Americans should
reverse their revolution. They should sign a declaration of dependence on the
rest of the world. They should admit that in the age of global travel, trade,
and communication, we all affect and are affected by the people outside of our
own nation. The citizens of earth are now connected, and our laws should
recognize our dependence.
Even very good laws become stale after 250 years. Americans will
revise the U.S. constitution and adopt a new, improved version in 2026 to
celebrate 250 years of democracy. This revised version will be used only
for a trial period of 13 years to gain some experience with the new laws.
Then, in 2039, a more permanent constitution will take effect on the 250th
anniversary of the 1889 constitution.
The United Nations charter must be revised sooner than that.
People everywhere already agree that democracy works within nations, and they
will agree that the principles of democracy can work nearly as well across
nations. National governments will begin to follow international law. Words
spoken by dictators will be replaced by laws written by elected officials.
Anarchy and totalitarianism will both be replaced by effective, controlled
international government.
Officials will be elected to make and to enforce international
laws and judges will be appointed to hear individual cases so that each of us
does not have to take the law into our own hands or vote on every proposed new
law. We expect that the actions of elected officials will represent the wishes
of all people, or we will get new officials and new rules.
Action
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. Will the senator from Vermont please
yield? Will the ambassador from the United States please yield? You have had
much more than your fair share of time and power. What you say may be
important, but new laws and revised constitutions are needed to make democracy
fair both within and across nations. New voices need to be heard. All votes
need to be counted. We can work together to make your vote and my vote both
count. I yield the remainder of my time to others for discussion of this topic.
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