Governing a United
Earth
By Paul VanRaden
July 4, 2023
A United
Earth could improve billions of lives and give people much better government
than the United Nations can provide with its weak charter and the veto power of
dictators. In 1789, the United States replaced its initial Articles of
Confederation with the US Constitution. In 1945, after the earth’s worst war,
the United Nations replaced the former League of Nations. Today, people pay
high taxes for national services but invest almost nothing to support global
services. A new international government could provide more effective global
services than volunteer national governments trying to run the world.
Taxes and services
People like
to keep the money they earn. To keep our money, we pay some taxes to hire
police to arrest thieves or to fund armed services to prevent other nations
from invading and taking everything we own. Our
governments also may provide roads, bridges, schools, research, etc. to benefit
everyone or emergency services to help those in need. Families often budget
their net income to buy the goods and services they feel have the most value.
Governments also should budget their income to give people the most value for
the taxes we pay.
Americans
were upset with British taxes 250 years ago, formed a new government, and
declared independence from Great Britain. Colonial representatives voted to
stop paying taxes to their Kingdom and instead to tax themselves. Today, most
US and UK citizens object to paying any taxes to any other government. Instead,
their citizens pay many taxes to their own local or national governments.
Table 1
lists current taxes paid and income earned by an
example US resident (the author). As percentage of salary, the taxes I paid in
2022 were 16.4% federal, 4.1% state, 2.8% county, 5.7% social security, 1.5% medicare, and 0.03% sales, for a total tax rate of 29.9%.
But employee benefits of 15.3% for insurance and 4.0% for retirement matching
are not taxed and add another 19.3% of salary. Also, on average, the social
security tax of 5.7% is returned as income later in life. So, the effective tax
rate as percentage of compensation is more like (29.9% – 5.7%) / 1.193 = 20.3%.
The US government contributed some tax from me to the United Nations (UN), but
it was < 0.1% of the federal tax and only a tiny 0.01% of my salary.
Table 1.
Example income received and taxes collected from 1 U.S. resident in 2022.
|
Category |
Item |
Annual $ |
Percent of salary |
Comments |
|
Income |
Gross salary |
176,300 |
100.0 % |
US Dept. of Agriculture |
|
Taxes |
Federal income tax |
28,964 |
16.4 % |
United States |
|
|
State income tax |
7,233 |
4.1 % |
Maryland |
|
|
County income tax |
4,901 |
2.8 % |
Prince Georges county |
|
|
Social security tax |
9,114 |
5.7 % |
United States |
|
|
Medicare tax |
2,439 |
1.5 % |
United States |
|
|
Sales/gasoline tax |
50 |
0.03 % |
6% MD sales, $0.43 / gallon |
|
|
Property tax |
0 |
0.0 % |
I pay rent instead |
|
|
UN share of federal |
23 |
0.01 % |
US pays 28% of UN budget |
|
|
Total tax |
52,701 |
29.9 % |
Sum of rows 2-8 |
|
Net income |
Salary minus taxes |
123,599 |
70.1 % |
Row 1 minus previous row |
|
Employee benefits |
Retirement matching |
7,052 |
4.0 % |
3% match, 1% automatic |
|
|
Medical/life insurance |
27,000 |
15.3 % |
75% share of premium |
|
Benefits |
Total |
34,052 |
19.3 % |
Sum of previous 2 rows |
|
Compensation |
Salary plus benefits |
210,352 |
119.3 % |
Sum of row 1 + previous |
Local taxes
often pay for local services, regional taxes for regional services, national
taxes for national services, and world taxes for world services. Everyone on
earth pays extremely low world taxes and gets extremely little world
government. The UN spends $0.40 (40 cents) per person per year to govern the 8
billion residents of earth. Wealthier taxpayers must pay more than 40 cents to
the annual budget. In 2022 I had to pay the United Nations $23 indirectly as
part of my $28,964 federal income tax. That year the U.S. government spent
$20,000 per person for its 335 million residents compared to the 40 cents spent
by the United Nations. Thus, the US federal budget spends 50,000 times more per
person than the UN budget.
International
governments such as the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) also
spend much less per resident than the national governments of their member
nations. In Europe, Germany and France spend 25 times more per person than the
EU spends. In Africa, the governments of Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa spend
hundreds or thousands of times more per person than the AU spends. Most
international governments such as the UN, EU, or AU recommend policies but have
little money to enforce them. Other international agreements such as the
Organization of American States, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, or Arab League may have even less control or lack
any separate budget.
International
decisions require member nations to adopt the policies, but members can choose
to ignore the policies or cancel their membership, as the United Kingdom did
when exiting the EU in 2020. Many former British colonies exited the British
Empire during the 1900’s, but many rejoined into the Commonwealth of Nations
(CN). Several other nations have joined the CN since
then. Nations can be suspended or expelled by the CN after military coups, for
ignoring democratic principles, or for violating human rights. The Commonwealth
adopted a new Charter in 2013 and now includes 56 nations, over 30% of the
world’s population, and 20% of the world’s land. The CN is still headed by the
King of England and does official business in English, but member nations govern
themselves almost independently.
Examples of
global, regional, national, state, and local government spending in 2022 are in
Table 2. State budgets within the US are often about half as large per resident
as the national budget. County or city budgets are often more than half of the
state budget per resident. In 2022, my own county spent about $5,000 per
resident, Maryland spent about $8,000, and the US government about $20,000.
Each of those budgets and spending levels makes the $0.40 budget of the UN look
trivial. Taxpayers spend a fortune to defend their territory, but their nations
spend almost nothing to make the whole world better and friendlier.
Table 2.
Spending by local, regional, national, and international governments compared
to population.
|
Government |
Members |
Population |
Annual Budget |
Spending / Capita |
|
|
|
(millions) |
(billion US $) |
($/person/year) |
|
United Nations |
World total |
7,964 |
3.2 |
0.40 |
|
|
India |
1,420 |
549 |
387 |
|
|
China |
1,410 |
5,389 |
3,821 |
|
|
Japan |
124 |
940 |
7,581 |
|
|
United Kingdom |
68 |
700 |
10,294 |
|
European Union |
Europe (EU) total |
448 |
184 |
411 |
|
|
Germany |
83 |
948 |
11,422 |
|
|
France |
65 |
714 |
10,985 |
|
African Union |
Africa total |
1,300 |
0.6 |
0.46 |
|
|
Nigeria |
219 |
40 |
183 |
|
|
Egypt |
108 |
117 |
1,083 |
|
|
South Africa |
61 |
120 |
1,967 |
|
United States |
50 states |
335 |
6,800 |
20,299 |
|
|
Texas |
30 |
250 |
8,333 |
|
|
Florida |
22 |
102 |
4,636 |
|
|
New York |
20 |
212 |
10,600 |
|
|
Vermont |
0.6 |
7 |
11,667 |
|
California |
State total |
39 |
263 |
6,744 |
|
|
Los Angeles county |
10 |
45 |
4,500 |
|
Maryland |
State total |
6.2 |
49 |
7,903 |
|
|
Prince Georges county |
0.97 |
4.6 |
4,742 |
Wars and peace
New
governments often arise during and after major wars but can also result from
peaceful cooperation such as joining together in the European Union from 1958
to present or rewriting a national constitution. Civil wars can split nations
or military coups and dictators can end democracies, but people can also build
democracies by voting to take power back from leaders who misuse theirs. This
section reviews historical changes in national and international taxation and
governance.
Historians
often measure a government’s success by the land area or population governed
multiplied by how long it lasts. Governments can grow by conquering new land or
by voluntarily joining with neighboring nations or even with people of distant
lands. Wars of conquest may give only short-term gains of territory if other
nations cooperate to reclaim the land stolen, as Alexander the Great, Napoleon,
Hitler, and Hirohito discovered. To survive, a government should defend its
territory from invasion, form defensive alliances, or be friendly with
neighbors so that border trouble is rare.
Ideally, cultures can explore, trade, and interact somewhat peacefully
such as Marco Polo’s trip to China, the Dutch East India company’s transport of
spices, or Lewis and Clark’s journey across Indian land, but the initial
friendly encounters can lead to later, large conflicts.
Ancient
Egypt thrived for thousands of years with strong, central government and
investments in large infrastructure projects. China and India had early,
advanced, large governments. Rome maintained a large empire for hundreds of
years. Mongol and later Russian empires controlled large parts of northern
Asia. In more recent centuries, England and Spain both used naval power to
discover new continents and control other nations. Such empires governed up to
20-30% of the world’s population for hundreds of years. Explorers and emigrants
to the discovered lands were expected to support the empire by trading with or
stealing from the citizens of those lands.
The
Revolutionary War in 1776 caused 13 colonies that separated from the British
Kingdom to adopt Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union in 1781. The
colonies had distrusted government and made their
initial federal rules very weak. The colonies also previously strongly objected
to taxation without representation, and after joining as states the new US
government had representation without taxation. The states collected taxes but
could not be forced to send any money to the US government. A few years later,
the states admitted their mistake, introduced federal property taxes, and
adopted a much stronger Constitution to keep them united. Delegates at
the Constitutional Convention
in Philadelphia quickly agreed that the previous very weak Articles of
Confederation could not easily be fixed, and instead they replaced those rules
with the US Constitution used since 1789.
The US Civil
War required much more central control and central funding both in the northern
and southern states. In the north, federal income taxes began in 1862 with
initial tax rates of 3-5% that increased up to 10% during the war, later
dropped to 2% or 0% in some decades, and since 1913 have had upper rates
ranging anywhere from 7% up to 94% during World War II. During the Civil War,
the Confederate war effort was financed partly by taxes but mainly by
government debt that caused inflation averaging 1500% per year in the south. Historical
Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 1862-2021 | Tax Foundation gives the full
history of US federal income tax rates.
World War I
caused many nations to form a League of Nations
(LN) in 1920 to keep the post-war peace. By 1935, 58 members had joined the LN
but those did not include the US. The US Senate had approved joining the LN by
a majority but not by the 2/3 majority required by the US Constitution. Rules
of the LN required unanimous approval for almost any action which severely
limited its power, but the LN broke its own rules to expel the Soviet Union
after the Soviets invaded Finland in 1939. The LN Executive Council had 4
permanent members (Britain, France, Italy, and Japan). Only 20 years later the
first 2 and the last 2 of those 4 countries fought on opposite sides of the
worst war in world history. The closing statement of the LN in 1946 said “Let
us boldly state that aggression wherever it occurs and however it may be
defended, is an international crime, that it is the duty of every peace-loving
state to resent it and employ whatever force is necessary to crush it…”
World War II
caused many nations to form a new United Nations to replace the LN but again
they gave the UN little power. The 1945 UN Charter gives the world government
little ability to govern or tax, like the 1781 Articles of Confederation for
the US government. Unfortunately, the UN Charter is also almost impossible to
amend. The only amendments were in 1965 and 1973 simply to increase the sizes
of the Security Council and of the Economic and Social Council after many more
nations joined the UN. Getting 2/3 of the general assembly and 2/3 of all
member countries to vote for an amendment could be possible but getting all 5
permanent members of the Security Council to give up their veto power may not
be possible.
The UN
Charter has not been amended in the last 50 years (or the US Constitution in
the last 30 years), but a few UN rules were changed. The Soviet Union was a
permanent member of the Security Council and was able to veto any UN action,
but the Soviet Union was not permanent. When it disappeared, Russia stole the
vote that previously was shared with other Soviet members. That vote should be
rotated among the former Soviet republics such as to Ukraine every 5th
year, or more often to make up for lost decades. The permanent vote of China
previously belonged to Taiwan but was transferred to Beijing. One other rule
change was that a vote of Abstain is now counted as a Yes. Major nations and
“permanent” members of the security council may prefer a weak UN, but most
citizens of Earth could have better lives with better international government.
The UN
authorized use of force in the Korean War to restore democracy to the south and
reunify the country but only the first goal was met. The UN had almost no role
in the Vietnam War but did authorize the first Gulf War in 1990 to free Kuwait
after Iraq’s invasion. In 2003 the US could not get a majority of the UN
security council to authorize the Iraq War but invaded anyway. The UN cannot
enforce its decisions or conduct the military actions it authorizes because it
employs no soldiers, only peacekeepers. The US military budget for the defense
of 1 nation is > 100 times larger than the UN peacekeeping budget ($753
billion vs. $6.4 billion / year) for the whole world. The US government also
has about 50 times more employees than the UN employs across the world (2
million vs. 40,000).
Multinational
corporations also have budgets far exceeding that of the UN. A few such as
Walmart and Amazon employ more than a million people, generate revenues of
about $500 billion, and have annual profits of $10-100 billion. Large national
governments can regulate the domestic activities of large corporations, but
governments in smaller or poorer countries have little chance to enforce
different rules for their people. Large international governments such as the
EU can create common markets and regulations to benefit both consumers and
corporations. Some international non-government organizations also have large
budgets such as the Gates Foundation spending $7 billion per year, but charity
and research are not good substitutes for law and order and jobs. We need effective international government to give some political
control to voters instead of all control to corporations and major nations.
Beyond the UN
The UN
Charter does not prevent UN members from joining a more effective United Earth
(UE). Most nations already have joined several formal international
organizations to agree on common rules and to coordinate their trade (NAFTA),
police (Interpol), global investment (IMF and World Bank), or military (NATO)
functions. If people foresee more benefits than costs from a stronger
international government, their nations will join and fund the government to
get the benefits.
The UE
Charter should value the decisions of leaders chosen in free elections more
than the opinions of dictators. Earth’s citizens cannot vote directly in world
elections or referendums if they cannot vote freely within their own countries.
To obtain more power in the world government, each nation must give more power
to its own citizens. Democracy ratings are available for each nation and are
updated frequently (The
Economist Democracy Index - Wikipedia), just like census counts of
population. Each nation’s vote should be proportional to population multiplied
by democracy rating. Table 3 shows the vote calculations for the largest 25
countries by population.
Table 3.
Votes based on democracy rating for the 25 most populous nations.
|
Rank |
Country |
Total Population |
Democracy Rating |
Votes |
World Vote% |
|
1 |
China |
1,397,715,000 |
1.94 |
27 |
10.2 |
|
2 |
India |
1,366,417,750 |
7.04 |
96 |
36.1 |
|
3 |
United States |
328,239,520 |
7.85 |
26 |
9.8 |
|
4 |
Indonesia |
270,625,570 |
6.71 |
18 |
6.8 |
|
5 |
Pakistan |
216,565,320 |
4.13 |
9 |
3.4 |
|
6 |
Brazil |
211,049,530 |
6.78 |
14 |
5.3 |
|
7 |
Nigeria |
200,963,600 |
4.23 |
9 |
3.4 |
|
8 |
Bangladesh |
163,046,160 |
5.99 |
10 |
3.8 |
|
9 |
Russian Federation |
144,373,540 |
2.28 |
3 |
1.1 |
|
10 |
Mexico |
127,575,530 |
5.25 |
7 |
2.6 |
|
11 |
Japan |
126,264,930 |
8.33 |
11 |
4.1 |
|
12 |
Ethiopia |
112,078,730 |
3.17 |
4 |
1.5 |
|
13 |
Philippines |
108,116,620 |
6.73 |
7 |
2.6 |
|
14 |
Egypt, Arab Rep. |
100,388,070 |
2.93 |
3 |
1.1 |
|
15 |
Vietnam |
96,462,110 |
2.73 |
3 |
1.1 |
|
16 |
Congo, Dem. Rep. |
86,790,570 |
1.48 |
1 |
0.4 |
|
17 |
Turkey |
83,429,620 |
4.35 |
4 |
1.5 |
|
18 |
Germany |
83,132,800 |
8.80 |
7 |
2.6 |
|
19 |
Iran, Islamic Rep. |
82,913,910 |
1.96 |
2 |
0.8 |
|
20 |
Thailand |
69,625,580 |
6.67 |
5 |
1.9 |
|
21 |
France |
67,059,890 |
8.07 |
5 |
1.9 |
|
22 |
United Kingdom |
66,834,400 |
8.28 |
6 |
2.3 |
|
23 |
Italy |
60,297,400 |
7.69 |
5 |
1.9 |
|
24 |
South Africa |
58,558,270 |
7.05 |
4 |
1.5 |
|
25 |
Tanzania |
58,005,460 |
5.10 |
3 |
1.1 |
A nation
that improves its democracy rating will automatically
increase its power. A nation that accepts more immigrants to increase
population will automatically increase its power. Nations whose citizens leave
will get less power, and dictators who take power from the people will get less
power in the UE. The UE will intensely debate the exact definition of
democracy, decide on the measures, and examine in detail each nation’s
progress. Nations can still choose methods to conduct their own national
elections and degrees of press freedom, but then must document and convince the
world how fair their elections are.
Using math
to determine representation is as old as the US Constitution. From 1789 to
1868, Article 1, Section 2 used this math: “Representatives and direct taxes
shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this
Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by
adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service
for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other
persons.” Thus, each state got 1 representative for each 30,000 (free person +
slave*3/5 + Indian*0) plus 2 senators. Amendments to the US Constitution
require 3/4 of the states or 2/3 of both the House and Senate. A 2/3 vote of
the Senate can approve a treaty or remove a President and 2/3 votes of both the
House and Senate can overrule a President’s veto. After the Civil War, if any
state denied the right to vote to a proportion of its voters, Constitutional
Amendment 14, section 2, proportionally reduced that state’s vote count in the
electoral college.
The EU
Council since 2014 uses math known as qualified majority voting. It requires a
55% majority of countries, or 72% if acting on a proposal from neither the
Commission nor from the High Representative, and the countries must represent a
65% majority of the EU population. At least 4 countries must vote against a
proposal to block it. Before 2014, the EU Council used a nonlinear function
similar to square root of population size to weight each country’s vote, giving
small countries more and large countries less power than in a pure democracy.
Several major action items still require a unanimous vote.
Most
Canadians live closer to Americans than to their fellow citizens, but Canadians
have no say in American laws that greatly affect their daily lives. An example
was during the recent covid crisis. The virus reached both countries at about
the same time. The border was closed in both directions in March 2020 and
reopened to fully vaccinated travelers a year and a half later in November
2021. The US covid death rate was already twice as high as in Canada in April
2020, and the daily death rate and total deaths as percentage of population
remained about twice as high in US as in Canada until November 2021. The US
border closure had little benefit and made no more sense than closing all
borders between 50 US states would have. Borders between states remained open
(even for Hawaii), and the US-Canada border should have remained open.
The U.S.
Articles of Confederation in 1777 said in Article XI that “Canada acceding to
this confederation, and joining in the measures of the united
states, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of
this union...” Canadians and Americans could have been fellow citizens already
for 250 years. Becoming fellow citizens makes sense now but is not likely.
Instead, the
United States could join the Commonwealth that Canada, UK, India, Australia,
and > 50 other countries already have joined. On March 16
2024 I suggested to the Commonwealth governance committee that: “USA
could join the Commonwealth on July 4 2026 if the king is no longer in charge
of it. Americans left the Commonwealth on July 4 1776
and could rejoin after 250 years but will not be ruled by a king. Charles III
could step down from his Commonwealth duties. His son Harry
who left for America would then be back in the Commonwealth. Edward VIII
stepped down from his duties to marry an American. We should all be one family.
Thank you for thinking about this request for a change in Commonwealth
governance.”
Many
countries could join into a larger democratic union across the earth (UE).
Becoming UE citizens does not require giving up your national citizenship or
your state driver’s license. We can cooperate to create better government, and
everyone can participate in its benefits.
Rich people
often prefer no taxation because they can get what they want directly. Their
children will still get excellent private education even if the government
provides no schools. They can quickly go where they want by private jet,
helicopter, or toll road even if the government provides poor or no public
transportation. Their gated communities or mansions or castles will remain safe
even if the government does not police the public streets. If not taxed, their
children can inherit 100% of their wealth. When taxed, rich people prefer local
tax so that more of the benefits come directly back to them, their community,
and their children.
Poor people
often prefer more taxation and prefer global, national, or regional taxes
instead of only local taxes. Income, property, and inheritance taxes collected
mainly from richer people and their children can provide benefits mainly to the
poorest people and their children. Local taxes collected only from poor
neighborhoods may provide only poor schools and few services. A wider tax base
promotes much wider equality. Poor people could migrate closer to where the
rich taxpayers live, but rich people use national taxes to catch the immigrants
and deport them back to poor countries to prevent equality. The main purposes
of border walls and border police are to prevent poor people from voting with
their feet as my ancestors did.
Earth’s
taxpayers will support their national governments transferring more tax to an
international government if the UE is many times more effective than the UN.
The global tax rate could be reported separately on your tax statement to
remind you each year how little global tax you pay compared to local, state,
and national taxes. You could have an individual option to transfer a portion
of your federal tax to the UE. Currently the US federal tax return (form 1040)
asks if $3 of my tax should be transferred to the Presidential Election fund.
The Maryland tax return (form 502) asks if I want to contribute funds for the Chesapeake Bay, Endangered Species, Developmental
Disabilities, Cancer Research, or Fair Campaign Financing. Neither asks if I
want to support effective international government.
European
nations could join the UE as separate members or jointly as the EU. The main
difference would be a more representative vote if they join separately or more
central power if together. Direct elections for each nation’s delegates may be
preferred, but some countries might restrict UE appointments only to members of
the ruling party. US Senators and Representatives are directly elected instead
of being appointed by the state’s governor. Appointing rather than directly
electing its UE representatives could further reduce a nation’s democracy
index. The UE needs clear rules governing how to join and exit the union. The
US Civil War may have started partly because the words “perpetual union” that
were in the Articles of Confederation were not in the Constitution. When
joining, nations should understand if they can later secede from the earth.
Final steps
are to write the UE Charter, revise and adopt it, elect or appoint the
government, fund it, and obey it. Main benefits are that decisions would be
enforced, world policing would be done by world police, and nations would not
need to volunteer their troops to fight in faraway places and pretend it was
for national defense. The UE will provide global services and preserve world
order using their own staff hired by global taxes devoted to maintaining and
improving the whole world. National governments will only need to provide
national services, just as state taxes provide state services and local taxes
provide local services.
Reasons to
join UE are that joint defense can be stronger and more efficient than national
defense and is why nations such as Sweden and Finland joined NATO, for example.
Recovery from natural disasters will be easier with global reserve funds than
with national, state, or local reserve funds. Travel could be much easier with
global borders than with national borders and is why the US does not restrict
its citizens to remain within their state’s borders. We all might get more job
offers to work in other UE member nations, just as citizens of previous global
empires did. We could pay for goods and services using Earthos
as a common currency, just as many people in Europe pay for their goods and
services in Euros since 2000 instead of Deutsch marks, French francs, etc.
Citizens of many other nations on earth may prefer to unite instead of
remaining autonomous, just as most nations in Europe did.
The UN might
last for decades or centuries in its current, dysfunctional form or slowly
evolve into a useful government. Many national leaders prefer a weak UN so that
they can have more power. People, especially poor people, should prefer a much
stronger international government that would value their individual vote.
Continuing the current UN is easier than designing a better government,
debating its exact rules, and getting nations to join. With help from France
250 years ago, 13 colonies declared and won their independence from the British
to become the United States. Today, with instant global communication, people
from many countries could declare their dependence and
join very quickly into the United Earth. The earth soon could and should have
effective international government. I will vote for that.