I intend this to be a constitution for a world government. However, this constitution would also work well for a multinational organization like the European Union, or for a large nation like America. This proposed constitution would probably not work well for a small nation.
The government is divided into a central government and competing governments. The competing governments are subordinate to the central government. The power of the central government is very limited. The competing governments have more power than the central government.
The competing governments may be called states, provinces, departments, prefectures, arrondisments, counties, cities, lands, nations, or anything else. Some people are opposed to the concept of a world government. The resistance to a world government might be reduced if the competing governments are referred to as nations.
Competing governments may have any form. Some competing governments are regional governments. Other competing governments may consist of an industrial park, or a road. Competing governments may have no citizens. Competing governments may have no territory. Competing governments may have any form of government, including republicanism, dictatorship, monarchy, theocracy, and anarchy. Competing governments may be controlled by the central government.
The boundaries between competing governments are not fixed. The boundaries between competing governments change frequently.
There are three kinds of competing governments: nonparticipating competing governments, nonvoting participating competing governments, and voting participating competing governments.
Nonparticipating competing governments are places which do not accept the central government, do not pay taxes to the central government, and do not obey laws made by the central government. The central government imposes economic sanctions on the nonparticipating competing governments, but otherwise the central government ignores the nonparticipating competing governments.
Participating competing governments are competing governments which do accept the central government. Voting participating competing governments vote in central government elections. Nonvoting participating competing governments do not vote in central government elections.
The central government is divided into three parts: the president, the political parties, and the competing governments. To pass a law or enact a policy, the central government must have the approval of a majority of the political parties and a majority of the competing governments.
The president does not vote on laws or budgets, and does not appoint any government officials. The president has very little power. The only powers the president has is the power of setting a good example, the power of persuasion, and a small budget. A good president will look for problems, publicize the problems, and convince other people to solve the problems.
Central government elections occur once per year. Every citizen of the voting participating competing governments may vote.
The president is elected in two steps. First, thirty days before the election, the political parties vote for president. The two people who receive the most votes become candidates for president. Then the citzens choose between the two candidates.
Every person votes for one political party. The results for the five most recent elections are averaged. A party which receives five percent of the votes of the people has five percent of the votes. This is like a legislature elected through proportional representation, where a party which receives five percent of the votes of the people receives five percent of the seats in the legislature, and thus five percent of the votes in the legislature. But this system is more efficient because there is no legislature and no seats; the votes in the government are allocated directly to the political parties. No political party may have more than ten percent of the votes.
The competing governments are like another legislature, like the original american constitution where the senators were chosen by the state governments, except there is no legislature and no seats. The votes are allocated directly to the competing governments in proportion to population. No competing government may have more than five percent of the vote.
History shows that in governments where power is divided between the central and regional governments, the central government uses its power to transfer power from the regional governments to the central government. The power of the central government tends to increase and the power of the regional governments tends to decrease. This constitution gives the competing governments power to resist power grabs by the central government. This is an important part of the checks and balances.
The competing governments make their own election rules, and may be elected in any manner. The competing governments do not have to be elected. The central government does not make any laws about competing government elections.
The central government can meet and debate laws, but does not have to. Anyone can propose a law by registering the proposed law with the government. Any political party or competing government can vote on on any proposed law at any time by registering the vote with the government. The law passes when enough votes are registered. Any political party or competing government which does not vote on a proposed law is assumed to be opposed. All proposed laws which have not passed and the votes for those laws expire at the next election.
If you want the central government to enact some law, first you register the proposed law, then you attempt to convince the political parties and competing governments to register votes in favor of the law. Meanwhile your opponents will try to convince the political parties and competing governments to not register votes in favor of the law. If you can convince more than half of the political parties and more than half of the competing governments to register votes in favor of your law, the law is enacted.
The central government votes a budget once a year, soon after each election. Each political party and each competing government vote the maximum size they think the budget should be. Political parties and competing governments are assumed to approve of a smaller budget, but not a larger budget. Political parties and competing governments which do not register a vote are assumed to be voting for a budget of zero. If the budget is less than one tenth of the money in the treasury, fifty percent of the political parties and fifty percent of the competing governments must vote for the budget. If the budget is between one tenth and one half the money in the treasury, two thirds must vote for the budget. If the budget is between one half and all the money in the treasury, three fourths must vote for the budget. If the budget exceeds the money in the treasury, eighty percent must vote for the budget. The budget which is approved is the largest number which passes.
For example, suppose twenty percent vote for 5, fifteen percent vote for 4, ten percent vote for 3, ten percent vote for 2, ten percent vote for 1, and thirty-five percent vote for 0. The budget is 2, the largest number approved by fifty percent.
Three fourths of the budget is given to the voting and nonvoting participating competing governments. The money is allocated to the different competing governments, based on the population of the competing governments, with more for competing governments with more children and elderly, and more for poorer competing governments. The competing governments may do whatever they wish with this money. The central government may not withold the money for any reason.
History shows that in governments where power is divided between the central and regional governments, the central government has a larger tax base. This allows the central government to tax regional governments, then threaten to withold services from insubordinate regional governments. Regional governments have an incentive to shift government programs to the central government because this shifts the costs onto other regional governments. This results in excessive centralization. This constitution requires the central government to make unconditional payments to the competing governments in order to limit the power of the central government. This is an important part of the checks and balances.
One percent of the budget is given to the president. The president may spend the money as the president wishes.
The rest of the money is divided among the political parties in proportion to votes. A party with five percent of the vote will receive five percent of the money. The political parties may spend the money however they wish.
Every person and organization has the right to pay any tax to any public service organization instead of to the central government. Taxes may also be paid to a competing government, political party, or to the president.
Most presidents will attempt to convince taxpayers to allocate more tax money to the president's favorite projects (and to allocate less tax money to all other projects). Most taxpayers will ignore the president's pleas. This is an important part of the checks and balances.
According to these rules, there will probably be no central government budget. I think this is good. This is a limitation on the power of the central government, an important part of the checks and balances. For example, if one taxpayer thinks that not enough money is being spent on road maintenance, that taxpayer will probably pay all taxes to public service organizations which perform road maintenance. If another taxpayer thinks that not enough money is being spent on veterans' benefits, that taxpayer will probably pay all taxes to public service organizations which provide veterans' benefits. So the central government will set the tax rates, but individual taxpayers will decide what to spend the money on.
In elections, all people are equal. But taxpayers have more control over the central government budget than nontaxpayers. The more taxes you pay, the more control you have over the central government budget.
The central government may create government departments and delegate powers to those departments. The central government dissolve previously created departments and reclaim powers delegated to the departments. Most departments should be small and should have a specific job to do. Most departments should be run by committees. An act of government which creates a department should include the names of the people who control the department. These people control the department indefinitely and may appoint their successors. The people who control a department can be replaced by the central government at any time for any reason.
Since the central government probably has no budget, the budget of each department is whatever individual taxpayers allocate to that department. If taxpayers allocate no money to a department, that department has no budget, and all the employees of that department must work without pay, and must pay all expenses themselves.
Most central government departments do not provide services. Most government services are provided by public service organizations, by competing governments, or by political parties. Most central government departments are courts. The primary function of the central government is to judge disputes between competing governments.
Sometimes the laws passed by the central government will be vague. Central government departments which are charged with enforcing vague laws will have to interpret the vague laws. Therefore central government departments should have the power to make regulations which clarify vague laws. If the central government does not approve of the actions of a central government department, the central government can replace the people who control the department or dissolve the department. In practice, this means that laws passed by the central government are only guidelines. Central government departments can make their own laws and do whatever they want until the taxpayers stop funding the department and the central government dissolves the department for abuse of power.
The central government is supposed to be gridlocked most of the time. This is an important part of the checks and balances. The central government departments should be independent enough to function normally even when the central government is gridlocked.
The central government has the power punish people, but the central government should not exercise this power directly. Instead the central government should delegate the power to punish to central government departments. The central government should delegate the power to prosecute criminals to one department, and the power to sentence criminals to a different department.
The central government must get the approval of the competing government before searching anyone or anything, or arresting anyone, or confiscating any property, or imposing any punishment on anyone or anything. If the suspect is physically present in the jurisdiction of one competing government, but the suspect is a citizen of a different competing government, the central government must get permission from both competing governments.
Every competing government may nullify any law, regulation, tax, court order, etc from the central government. However, competing governments should remember that excessive defiance of the central government will lead to a declaration of nonparticipation, economic sanctions, and poverty. This is an important part of the checks and balances. The central government's power to declare nonparticipation balances competing governments' power to nullify.
The central government imposes economic sanctions on all nonparticipating competing governments. All imports and exports of goods and services are taxed at two thirds of the value. This includes tourism, gifts, remittances, and aid. There is a tax on all persons and vehicles which cross the border. Investments from participating competing governments into nonparticipating competing governments are taxed at three percent per year. Investments from nonparticipating competing governments into participating competing governments are not taxed. These sanctions will make both sides poorer, but the side with the less diverse economy will become much poorer, while the side with the more diverse economy will become only a little poorer. The central government economy is much more diverse than the economies of the nonparticipating competing governments, so these economic sanctions make the nonparticipating competing governments much poorer without having a large effect on the central government economy.
The economic sanctions give nonparticipating competing governments a very large incentive to become participating competing governments. If a nonparticipating competing government refuses to become a participating competing government despite the economic sanctions, then the nonparticipating competing government must be strongly determined to avoid becoming a participating competing government. If the central government attempted to militarily force the nonparticipating competing government to become a participating competing government, then the nonparticipating competing government would probably resist fanatically, and the central government would have to give up, kill all the people in the nonparticipating competing government, or put all the people from the nonparticipating competing government into concentration camps. Therefore, if economic sanctions fail to convince nonparticipating competing governments to become participating competing governments, the nonparticipating competing governments should be left alone.
The nonparticipating competing governments will be too poor to support a large army, so the nonparticipating competing governments will not be a threat to the central government, so the central government does not need an army.
If the people in a nonparticipating competing government are divided, and some of the people want to join the central government and some do not want to joint the central government, then the central government should encourage the people who want to join the central government to secede from the nonparticipating competing government and become a new nonparticipating competing government. Then the new nonparticipating competing government can join the central government and become a participating competing government. The central government should neither support nor oppose secessions from nonparticipating competing governments if the secessionists do not want to join the central government.
All the land of the central government is divided into parcels, and each parcel is controlled by a person or organization. The central government keeps records of all the parcels of land. These records include the size, location, and value of each parcel, and who controls each parcel.
The controller of each parcel has the power to decide which competing government has jurisdiction over that parcel and all the people who live on that parcel. The controller has the right to secede from the competing government and join a different competing government, or create a new competing government. The controller has the right to split the parcel into multiple parcels, and the right to merge adjoing parcels. The controller has the right to sell or give control to any person or organization.
All control of land is for sale at all times. The controller must declare the price to the central government. If a controller does not want to sell control, the controller should declare a high price. The central government should tax the control of land to discourage controllers from declaring excessively high prices.
No parcel of land which is larger than one hundred acres may have a price larger than ten million dollars.
Most competing governments will consider secession to be undesireable. Therefore, most competing governments will seek to control as much land as possible. The rule that all control is for sale and the rule against large, valueable parcels make secession easier.
Secession is very important for preventing human rights abuses by competing governments. The only other way to prevent human rights abuses by competing governments would be for the central government to control the competing governments. But then the central government would be too powerful, and there would be nothing to prevent human rights abuses by the central government.
It requires a three fourths vote of the political parties and of the competing governments to declare a voting participating competing government is a nonvoting participating competing government or a nonparticipating competing government.
It requires a fifty one percent vote of the political parties and of the competing governments to declare a nonvoting participating competing government is a voting participating competing government or a nonparticipating competing government.
A newly created competing government is a voting participating competing government. For one year after a new competing government is created, the new voting participating competing government may be declared a nonvoting or nonparticipating competing government with a vote of fifty one percent. After the first year, three fourths is required to change the status of the new voting participating competing government, same as other voting participating competing governments.
A participating competing government may secede from the central government and become a nonparticipating competing government. Secession from the central government requires a vote of the people, and the vote is judged by the central government. This is an exception to the rule that central government does not get involved in competing elections. If the vote to secede is successful, the central government will propose a secession from the seceding competing government. The central government will propose dividing the seceding competing government into two parts, one part to secede and become a nonparticipating competing government, and one part to remain a participating competing government. The central government will choose a boundary. The central government may choose to place the boundary anywhere. The second vote must occur two months after the first vote. The second vote must pass by more than the first vote.
A competing government may disown any territory. Any disowned territory becomes a new participating nonvoting competing government.
Competing governments may have any form of government, any kind of legal system, any kind of economic system, and any kind of culture. Some competing governments are very different from other competing governments. People may choose which competing government to be a citizen of. If people dislike all existing competing governments, people may start new competing governments.
The right to choose what competing government and what kind of competing government to be a citizen of is the most important and the most fundamental human right. The right to choose what competing government and what kind of competing government to be a citizen of is the only human right. If you think that freedom of expression is an important human right, then you can choose to be a citizen of a competing government which guarantees freedom of expression. If you think that property rights are an important human right, then you can choose a competing government which guarantees property right. The right to choose which competing government to be a citizen of is the only human right because all other rights are guaranteed by the right to choose which competing government to be a citizen of.
But it is not enough to have the right to choose which competing government to be a citizen of. There must also be a variety of different competing governments to choose from. If all competing governments are the same, then there is no choice at all. There must also be the right to create a new competing government if you dislike all existing competing governments.
In traditional governments, the central government attempts to achieve uniformity. The central government attempts to force all parts of the competing government to be exactly the same as all other parts of the competing government. All parts of the competing government have the same laws, the same taxes, the same social programs, the same system of local government. Citizens may choose which part of the competing government to live in, but there is not a real choice because every part of the competing government is the same as every other part. This is wrong. This is a violation of human rights. This is a crime against humanity. This is what the central government must NOT do.
The various competing governments should be different so that people will have a choice of different competing governments. The central government should not attempt to encourage diversity because a central government program to encourage diversity will probably fail and result in less diversity. The central government should do nothing to reduce diversity. The central government should not regulate competing governments because any regulation of competing governments will reduce diversity. The central government should not make rules or standards for competing governmental elections, or police or court procedures, or human rights. If a person wants to file a lawsuit against a competing government, the person must file the lawsuit in the courts of the competing government. The central government courts will not accept such lawsuits. The exception to this rule is that competing governments must allow citizens to leave or secede. If a person thinks that a competing government has violated the person's right to leave or secede, then the person may file a lawsuit against the competing government in the courts of the central government.
For example, the government of america requires state governments to hold regular elections according to rules made by the central government. The central government requires state government to accept charters and licenses issued by other state governments. The central government requires state governments to follow rules made by the central government when searching, arresting, or punishing suspects or criminals. The central government forbids state governments from restricting citzens from trading with citizens of other states. The central government does none of these things.
As long as competing governments allow people to leave or secede at will, the competing governments may treat their citizens any way the competing governments want. The competing governments may restrict the freedoms of the people, restrict immigration, punish people for no reason with no trial, seize property for no reason with no compensation, prohibit political opposition, allow slavery, or anything. If people choose to not leave and not secede, then people have approved of whatever the competing government is doing.
National government cannot violate human rights because if a competing government violates human rights, the people will leave and secede. The competing government will become smaller and will eventually disappear. The competing governments which violate human rights will disappear, and only the competing governments which do not violate human rights will remain.
Competing governments compete for citizens, and also for territory and for investment. Successful competing governments expand, unsuccessful competing governments contract, failed competing governments disappear, new competing governments appear. There is a capitalist free market in government.
Competition makes the competing governments more efficient. The central government has no competition. The central government is less efficient than the competing governments. The central government should have as little power as possible. Government programs should be run by the competing governments, not by the central government, if at all possible.
The best government policies are discovered through competition between the competing governments.