[News] Rising Powers and the end...or beginning of International Law

So this article about how the Falklands is the unhealthy obsession with slightly more than half of Argentianians and how the president of Argentina is willing to bring it up with the Pope, shows that international law as a norm might be under threat.  But let us be honest here, international law is really an agreed to hegemony between major world powers, which largely consisted of the United States and Europe, and most of the rising powers do not share that same geographical heritage. 

It does not speak well for the peace of nations...because the old guard all has nukes...and the new guard is getting them.  This has lead to some acceptable norms.  Granted, those norms blatantly favored the old regimes, but they more or less worked on a diplomatic front.  Imperialism was a thing of the past...but Argentina wants its own imperialism.  So does China.  Rising powers need military vindication to prove their status, they need a war victory. 

This is as old as human history.  The 20th century and institutions such as the United Nations and the League of Nations were supposed to change this pattern.  To some degree they did, but the United Nations was made largely unfunctional by design and certainly by execution through the veto power of the security council and its permanent members.  There is no provision in international law for rising powers....well, there is, but it seems to be not adding permanent security council members.  India is now far more a power than France, but it isn't on the board, nor is Brazil. 

This lack of respect by the international community is part of the reason all of South America is lining up behind the Argentinian Imperialism, and how many anti americans around the world are able to use the same kind of Pretzle Logic that American conservatives use to justify how Argentianian Imperialism now is any different than British Imperialism two centuries ago.

However this article gives me some hope.  First, that nations that have up to now been stomped by the old guard are fighting back, and are willing to challenge the status quo to do so, but they are also trying to use international institutions first, or at least international protocols.  India, at the least, seems to say it cares about international law.  Of course, so does China and so does Imperial Argentina, but they only care about international laws so far as they apply to them.

Then again, so does the old guard.  How will these protocols stand up to this conflict?  Will we survive? The next few decades...hell...the next decade, will prove rather interesting.

But if they are strengthened to allow diplomacy, rather than force of arms, a chance to succeed, does that mean that the Republican War Criminals of the United States...and perhaps even their Democratic Enablers will be held to an international tribunal? And if they are...will they be capable of discerning between covert strikes against a hostile power that harbors terrorists within its borders and someone who orders troops to instigate tortures against third party nationals?

We shall see.

[Cons] Article 1 - Section 3 - The Floater House

So the concept of the 'upper' house is found in almost all democracies that actually are.  The concept originally hailed from the UK, with the lords and the commons, where the lords once held the true power, slowly divested to the commons as wealth and power were distributed to the rest of the population.  Since then, as part of the Connecticut Compromise, the US constitution has provisioned for an upper chamber and the Gutter house.  The upper chamber was somewhat modeled after the lords, but as a Republic, it meant that the senators had no provision of nobility whatsoever.  Instead, the 'comity' of the senate through its culture, its arcane rules, and the fact that its members were directly selected by state legislatures meant that there would be some degree of decorum. 

To the senate were given the ratifications of treaties and the true checks on the power of the executive through ratification of treaties and confirmation of nomination to cabinet posts.  Of course, since by and large politicians, at least in American society, seem to be turds, the turds selected to the senate were concentrated corruption and disease, such that many progressive attempts at legislation (you know...like letting women and black people vote) were killed by the south through the filibuster.  Eventually, people decided that their state legislatures were so inept that they could do a better job themselves.  (They were, since legislatures, sometimes deadlocked, would leave a vacancy for months or even years).  Since then, this concentration of turds has risen to the top of the toilet bowl with lofty often endless debate where good ideas go to die.  Most recently, with vacuous rural states and the throwback section of the country, the conservative section of society has a disproportionally large degree of power compared to the majority where it loftily accomplishes almost nothing whatsoever.  Moreover, these self professed peacocks of comity are so inebriated with their own power that they accomplish almost nothing; nor can they pass even the slimmest of meaningful reforms to their rules to allow the majority to have its way, since their own corruption is shielded by the 40/60 rule required by the filibuster. As a result, even supposedly 'progressive' senators are able to take bribes and kick backs and point to 'the filibuster' sadly as the reason they could not get meaningful legislation to the house floor.

So again, with the US Senate as an example, why have a legislature at all? But if you must have turds, what can we do to improve on the truly disgusting lot we already have?

Well, here are a few ideas.
1) Actual Lords.  Yes, we're a republic, but they had noble titles in the Roman empire....moreover, if we had an actual aristocracy of knights and ladies that had been elected, at least the Floater house would have some kind of justification for its existence.  These supposedly superior human beings, by nature of their accomplishments appointed by the executive (knighted etc), then they could develop skills at legislating, deal making, long term view etc.

Strengths: Properly done, this could be quite excellent.  Knighthoods in Britain are sometimes stupid and political, but master artists and scientists and the like, people who actually KNOW things, could make an upper chamber worth having instead of the pasty faced ghouls we currently have.  Indeed, beyond bringing some much needed color to the sheer blank wall the current senate has, one could imagine a situation where "Lord Bladiblah" gets into an extended conversation with "Lady Windbag".

Weakness: Well lots really, too many to count, but at least we might improve the lot of Floaters we currently have.  Maybe.  The main problem with this is...the original model? Yeah, they're kind of weakening the House of Lords...you know...the one that still gives seats to the CHURCH OF ENGLAND.  The reason for this is the same reason the Queen only has one theoretical one use only super nuke veto....because every time the House of Lords actually functions, the commons, who has the real power, asks, "Why are these people still there again?"  And reduces the power of the Lords.  If the power in a democracy is with a people, and you can use timelocks instead of greater majorities to prevent insanity...then why in the name of all that is holy, would you go BACK to a legislature in the first place?  The United States Senate DOES NOT serve the people of the united states...it serves the elite...and even then, if you look at poll numbers, it does a pretty crappy job thereof.

Verdict: Pass.   As did the founding fathers so long ago, noble titles are a thing that worked when Feudalism was the most efficient way of stopping rampaging barbarian hoards from killing you.  We've moved on.  So should democracy.

2) The Corporate Chamber.  So...business pretty much owns government, even though business is ultimately at the mercy of and beholden to armies, which governments are good at raising.  But in many countries, especially in the United States, government is pretty much owned by the largest companies or conglomerations of companies.  In that case, why not skip the middle man and just give our corporate overlords their due?

Strengths: This is not as insane an idea as it sounds.  If you set up a bidding system, you ensure that those entities who are willing to bid the most for power (NGO's, political parties, PACS, super PACs, businesses, trade groups etc), you're representing not only a lot of people at the table, but you're also giving them a DIRECT stake in the game, where they have to deal with the nasty sausage making that is governing instead of standing on their high horse ivory throne towers (yes, I did mix a lot of metaphors there but given the insane way some of these idiots act, why not?)..after all, if instead of quietly bribing Senator Snacks, you could have your own guy on public record, then suddenly it might be harder to justify why you're giving yourself a tax break worth a gamillion dollars.  Of course, some would argue, "because I paid for this seat, that's why!"  Of course, all 99 other seats that paid for it will ask the same thing, and the gutter house or People's Collective Assembly or whatever will also be able to say, "Excuse me?!"  Current corporate bribe money and money used to blind or confuse the public could instead be put into the public coffers.

Weaknesses: Honestly? Very few.  But they're big ones.  First, it would deligitimize the illusion of civilization and government itself by exposing how these cadres of interests were hoarding all of the pie.  Indeed, it is entirely possible that without safeguards, 100 rich people could simply BUY the government and establish defacto political dynasties.  As a unicameral system it would be a disaster, as a bi-legislature/direct democracy...meh.  The final problem is that even with the tax revenue collected with their money to buy a seat, any system worth having will have a counter balance in a Gutter House or a direct democracy...and as such, the Floater House is still going to spend gobtons of money to mindwash the public.

Verdict: A Floater by any other name still belongs in the toilet.

3) Governors.  A strong argument by regionalists (largely from the South which is why I am inclined to ignore them) is that you need to represent the regional interests of different areas of the nation.  Some of this makes sense, since in Parliaments, for example, the capital tends to crush the other areas of the country.  On the other hand, since the baSeline population tends to elect idiots who only care about their own power rather than that of their states (well, their own power and that of their party), then the argument that the current abomination that is the US senate represents 'regions' is laughable.  Within states, there are regions that agree with the majority and those that do not, but in our rigid fixed constitution are stuck in perpetuity with the boundaries affixed to them on admission to the union.  If we accept the idea that legitimacy comes from the governed, rather than some sovereign status accorded to arbitrary collections of dirt that really doesn't think or care about us at all (IE regions of Earth called States) then any flux that allows the bubble of a region to perpetually impose its will upon another must be counted as an inefficiency.  If we are all equally valuable at a base franchise level, then the question of regions determining policy is laughable.  However, if we must do this, then the only way to ensure that the interests of the REGION as compared to the interests of professional turds, is to ensure that the person who actually has to deal with the messy part of GOVERNING is the one that has a stake at the policy making level.

Strengths: Chris Christie went from typical conservative to RINO/traitor/commiepigdog overnight when he took a look at how much money it was gonna take to actually rebuild his state.  In Georgia, Nathan Deal is all about most of the crazy stupid ideas of the Reagan Reality, but suddenly he's a big believer in having a port in Savannah (which happens to be critical to maintaining the current regime of Reagan Reality Inhabitants in coalition)....I argue that if you TRULY want dirt cubes represented, then you need to make it the current ACTUAL ruler of the dirt cubes that makes the decisions.  You could probably still make a proxy, so long as the Floater actually served at ALL TIMES at the whim and will of the governor of the dirtcube.  This will ensure regional interests are represented.

Weaknesses: Well, if you are looking for some kind of balance between dirtcubes and the nation as a whole, then really you've got a problem, because the regional governor is only going to care about the national interest, so long as it in some way benefits his dirt cube.  He is certainly going to have a more difficult time justifying a war in some other country while money that could go to benefit his dirtcube is being siphoned off for drones etc.  Also, by and large, governors are also turds just like almost all other politicians, with the nature of their role and desire to hold onto power over their dirtcube that gives them motive to stay somewhat sane.

Verdict: Still floaters.  Still turds.  But you get your regional interests in there.  If your nation must include a region that has no business belonging with the rest of the regions, like say...the South, then this works as a 'compromise.'

4) Technocratic Appointment - So, some people have proposed that we make the senate full of really smart people, who know stuff.  This sounds like a great idea...but has flaws. 

Strengths: So long as the bodies that choose the smart people (American Bar Association, American Medical Association, Nobel Prize Committee etc) are true and functional to their purpose, then you will end up with senators who actually rise up out of the toilet bowl and can walk in the sun as actual servants of the people.  Hell, they could get a LOT done.  They would be able to present their ideas to the people at large and maybe even have a government run intelligently.

Weaknesses: First, smart people are not necessarily any better at making policy.  There is more than one kind of intelligence, and administrative ability and emotional intelligence don't necessarily match that of someone who is able to deduce something like the double helix.  Moreover, people being stupid, and rich people being greedy, are going to begin to tilt the institutions that select these 'experts' to suit their needs.  In the end, you just have corruption and greed but in slow motion.  You could, in theory do with such a body the same thing I propose for the constitution which is reset bodies full of doctors, lawyers, scientists and non stupid people..but it still has problems.  At that point, the metasystem of institutions gets gamed.  Which group of doctors gets to represent doctors?  100 years ago, doctors consisted of in some cases vets, dentists, psychologists and doctors.  So how granular do you get? You can have a list made up by the assembly making the constitution, but every time there is a reset, the elite will prepare ahead of time and try to game the system for their own interests.

Verdict - There are flaws, but of all the floater houses, this one actually brings value in helping to use smart people to keep stupid people from doing stupid things.  But I argue that people correct themselves much quicker than smart people do per se.  It could be a house of leadership, but even heroes slowly devolve into morons.  The first congress was OK.  The fifth congress passed the Alien and Sedition acts.

5) Popularly elected senators at large - There is no difference at all between this and my proposals for the Gutter House.  (See previous post)

6) All of the Above - So in a final attempt to throw a bone to the legislature happy people, let us consider the idea that we use a little bit of all of the above.

Strengths: So...multiple working parts means dilution of power, which is good because it does make government inefficient which can reduce problems.  Inefficiency is fine so long as it DELAYS the madness of the majority and gives them time to come to their senses, but does not forever stem the will of the majority.  If something is the will of the majority for a hundred years, then it is not the purview of the minority to stop that, lest you simply bypass the concept of law altogether and fight a war in which the majority enforces its will by Rule of Mob rather than Rule of Law.  The advantages of a Floater House are to provide inspiration and elevation, and all of these can be corrupted in one form or another.  Still, it is also the natural inclination of men to place others above them, and through a combination of all of the systems above...say....50 seats, 10 to direct election, 10 to regional governors, 10 by bid of various non government institution, 10 by professional associations and 10 by executive life time appointment....you might have something that works OK.

Weaknesses: Oh wait, this is humanity we're talking about....you're going to end up with half of that number controlled by corporations or the 'rich' (no matter your economic system, there will be rich and poor, even if it is only influence), and the other half that doesn't know how to vote from a hole in the ground or elected because they have good hair.

Verdict: It kind of works as a throw the spaghetti against the wall approach, and it would be a good system in case somehow people couldn't abide time locks on things or the distinctions between timelocks became meaningless.  Still a Floater House.

Meta Verdict: ANYTHING, including 10 mules pushing random buttons with hay would be better than the United States Senate.  The mixed approach works Ok.  After that the technocrats and the bidding processes bring something worthwhile to the table.  At large and noble houses are just dumb.

[Cons] Article 1 - Section 2 - The Gutter House

Alright, let us say that anything but a legislature is impossible, either because people like having corrupt and inept politicians run their lives, or are simply too lazy to think of anything else.  What reforms can we make to these functionally useless bodies that might make them slightly less worthy of the rubbish bin?

Section 2 talks about the 'people's' house (since really the Senate is the lower, more baser and disgusting, so we can hardly call it an 'upper house') but the idea of a legislative body more closely connected to the people seems like a reasonable idea.  What are some of the problems with this disgusting congregation of baboons (my apologies to the baboons).

Gerrymandering - The so called 'sanctity' of states allows psychopathic conservatives to tilt the machinery of democracy in an unnatural direction.  Yes, it is true that their whines to the contrary about both sides doing it historically are accurate, but in this hour, in this day in age, at the federal level, it's conservatives.  That's one problem.  Another problem, as I've mentioned before is the fact that because they are such a small number, they are easy to bribe and hard to replace.  People are lazy...they like the guy who is currently supporting them, but because of radicalization of the primaries (mostly among conservatives but occasionally among progressives) these people don't actually represent their districts so much as the most crazy frothing members of their own district who will loyally supplement the billionares that have bought their representatives.

Another problem of course, with territorial representation is the fact the minority party in these conservative infested districts (er...or of course the frothing conservatives kept well cage in Reality Reality majority districts....they have rights, after all, even if they seek to take everyone else's but their own, howling protestations to the contrary).  If one person is supposed to get one vote and an equal say in a representative in the House of Corruption, why should they get silenced just because they live in the wrong zip code?

Here are three possible models.

1) All representatives are elected nationally at the party level.  To say that parties will not happen is to not understand human nature.  Check out a local high school.  No one makes them form gangs of jocks, nerds, cheerleaders etc,....they just do it on their own.  Same with parties.  Now sometimes one gang gets a sufficient power block to crush all other gangs, but people are going to form gangs.  So on a national level, you have a proportional representation.  Everyone can form their own gang...and a gang that tries to stop other gangs from forming or sets up artificial barriers to forming a gang is declared illegal.  This includes 'voter security' arrangements that are secretly designed to keep the gang in power, like unreasonable or irrational requirements on voting etc.

Strengths: Well, tiny parties would finally have a national voice where they could speak and be counted.  Of course, in any system that isn't a parliament, the gangs would not have a requirement to form coalitions which is the mechanisms that allow small parties to have real power.  You could, of course, pass some arbitary rule which says no one gang can have more than 10% of the vote, but then you'd just end up with Conservatives-South and Conservatives-West etc.  Still, gangs would get their say, and we could finally dispense with all this nonsense about the Gutter house representing people and in fact representing their gangs.

Weaknesses: It is actually a good idea to represent a region.  I mean, in theory, the south could become sane again.  Imagine a future where most conservatives join some crazy cult or get beamed up by aliens or something, then you'd have the non conservatives in the south wanting to participate in reality again, except that the rest of the country hates them so much they refuse to spend any federal money on them.  They could, of course, conceivably create a specifically regional party but would still be in the minority.  Also, from a moral stand point, regional parties don't do well because they look like utterly selfish bastards....saying, 'we deserve our region to benefit over other regions.'  It is one thing for the representative of a region to do that; pork might be dire, but it is apparently a lesser form of corruption for deal making than holistically amoral ideology that 'purifies against pork' but will kill the entire nation as a result.

Verdict: Meh.

2) We take the entire stupid system we have now but just make two minor reforms; eliminate party barriers and increase the size a whole lot of the legislature.  Basically, we have 1 rep for every 10000 instead of 1 rep for every half million.

Strengths: You know who your rep is if you're not a lazy fool.  If they want to, 10000 can educate themselves a lot more.  Moreover, by keeping out the crazier conservatives because you know that your rep needs to get power in Washington and that will take time, you can begin to get actual statesmen instead of maniacs that want to kill us all.    So the gutter house would actually be closer to the people, and with any party ACTUALLY able to play in the game, you could have tiny parties either succeed or get with the program and join coalition parties once they finally ran out of excuses as to why people had no interest in voting for them.

Weaknesses: This model does nothing to fix gerrymandering.  Also, who are we kidding?  The Somalia Party that wants no government at all, will never gain any actual power unless they lie to people...oh wait...they have.  Nevertheless, the lesser Somalia party has in fact gained zero seats in congress except for that many of their worst ideas have been stolen.  Crazy small parties will always keep going....forever...because they believe. 

Verdict: At least you'd have more stability.

3) What if we had parties themselves do the gerrymandering?  So you could basically vote at large nationally for a party but it was by district? That is to say, you get one vote....you choose a party...but the party has already chosen who represents you in that district based on a national level.  This is not restricted to national lines, so that regional parties like the Greater Somalia party can put the bulk of its representatives in the south and rural west, whereas the Cowardly Party could put most of its representatives in districts.  These districts would tend to flow based on the population of who was voting for them.  As long as you had essentially no barriers to any kind of party existing or being formed or getting on the ballot, you could have both regionalism and partyism.

Strength: It will more reflect what people are actually going to do.  People will have regional interests and they will have party interests.  It also means no one EVER has their vote totally gerrymandered because they are voting for the party of their choice...if they want to vote for a party that has put half of the country under one representative, that is up to them.

Weaknesses: It...kind of makes sense.  I mean, I think it solves a lot of the problems with the craptastic legislative system....and since people are stupid, I think they are unlikely to do something that might actually work.  Plus, it might be rather easy for them to confuse themselves about understanding that if they vote for the Greater Somalia party, their vote is being thrown in with Cleveland, whereas if they vote for the Cowardly Party, they're in the same district as New York, whereas the Lesser Somalia Party knows no one will vote for them so they just put all in one district for the entire country at large.  You would have to make people put at least 435 (or whatever number of losers that are in the gutter house) and make them divide things out geographically.

Verdict: I like it.  Therefore it is unlikely to ever go anywhere.

[cons] Article 1 - Section 1 - We Can Do Better than Legislatures

So reviewing this section seems to be a really good place to discuss my thoughts on legislatures in general.  So broadly, people seem to favor these because supposedly people are more reasonable or more trained and not as subject to the crazy pressures that the public brings to bear.  Really?  Look at the republican house...how does the "great man" theory work there for you?  The tea party?

Or God help us all the United States Senate?

The point is that at the moment they don't function at all.  If you think they do, here is a little special hat and stool in the corner for you.  We can disagree but we need to be in the same reality to do so.   The majority of people are in the reality reality, not the Reagan Reality.

Legislatures are disconnected.  Legislatures are bribed.  Very few representatives anywhere in the world are really truly respected, and especially in this country?  Why?  Because by focusing the law making power among such a narrow group, you make it it easy to bribe them.

So...if we maintain separation of powers, besides just trying another broken type of legislature (any flavor of crap you want is still crap) what else can be done?  Why not direct democracy?  Sure there are a lot of problems but let's name the obvious problems....

You can't record that many votes:  Technology has changed that.  Welcome to the internet.

People are Stupid.  Lots of People Are Very Stupid:  Yes.  Very stupidly they keep electing corrupt and stupid law makers who do nothing.    If we use people as a validation of power, why not elect the middleman and go straight to the original stupid?  Plus lots of people are also more smart than legislatures.   Look at the legalization of drugs or gay marriage.   Polls reflect a change of attitudes much quicker than stupid legislatures.

Creating working legislation is difficult:  Difficult yes, impossible, no.  See below.

Legislatures halt the Wild Passions of the People:  Legislatures authorized the Iraq war.   Look at the debt ceiling.   Look at the sequester.  Look at Harry Reid and filibuster reform.   Legislatures are idiots.  Just do what Massachusetts does with constitutional amendments....require multiple votes over time...years even.

So...how to make direct democracy create codified written laws? (assuming you even want that but we need to start with concrete ideas somewhere)

Here are some ideas....

Wikilaws:  We write laws like we write articles on Wikipedia.  There are sysops charged with neutrality, but anyone can edit.  Once crafted and stable, they would be voted on by the populace at large.

Strengths:  Wikipedia has created some very solid articles, which, while not standing up to academic rigidity, are often very useful for a download of quick understanding.

Weaknesses: Sysops and wikifanatics can dominate an article to the point of obsession.  This would be worse.  Paid corporate operatives already haunt pages,  one can only imagine what they would do with laws.

Verdict: There is something romantic about a law open to all for edit but the process would need to be rigidly guarded.  Probably something that would require more advanced intellectual and emotional brainpower than baseline humanity.  Maybe something usable once humanity has moved beyond conservatism.

Usegroup - In the book, "Ender's Game" by the sadly now deranged author Orson Scott Card, he made extremely accurate predictions about the early days of the internet, in which people discussed very serious ideas on topics ranging from laws to news etc.  While that does obviously occur, strangely he didn't picture the rise of cat videos.  Could we make laws by virtual discussion?

Strengths: The format is less flexible but more comprehensible to follow than a wiki format.  People who followed these discussions seriously could use this tool both for research and also for evidence.  If the identities of all those attempting to make the laws were public, it would be a verifiable method of tracking their behavior.  A robust legislative investigative agency could in theory use this as evidence to track corrupt individuals.

Weaknesses: A group requires a moderator unless it is going to be filled with spam.  Imagine if you will the Constitution filled with ads for Viagra....and if there are moderators, then the moderators can be bribed.  Granted, with a sufficient number of moderators, this might be diluted, but if you are using diluted numbers, why not just have a legislature with a large number of people?

Verdict: In THEORY this idea could work on a purely practical level...in practice, it isn't really that much of an advantage over a legislature and can still be influenced by fanatics and corporate puppets.

Ballot Initiative: Many western states have a wide array of ballot initiatives that citizens can start if they get a sufficient number of people to petition.  In theory, if one were to lower the requirement for getting on the ballot and all ballots were on the public internet...well...its an idea.

Strengths: If just ONE person is writing each version of a proposed law, then sneaking in tricky language via amendment get harder.  It allows the populace at large to educate themselves on the nature of these ballots to become law, and bribing the entire population becomes very hard.  It also has the singular advantage that it has been tried and done in the real world, albeit as a supplement to a legislature.

Weaknesses: The public at large are idiots.  What this really would cause is that existing political groups would become the defacto power brokers not by bribing congressmen but by trying to persuade the public.  In a system where lying to the public about political matters was a felony it might be possible to reduce the damage from this, but if you apply the conservative test (what happens if conservatives begin to run the department that enforces lying laws) then you see the problem.  The other problem is that if you get an apathetic public where just voting 'yes' to everything is the default, then suddenly you could have puppies receiving just as much funding as defense.  This would rapidly prove unworkable and the likely result is some kind of a minimum intelligence or qualification test to be able to submit ballots.  Guess what that is likely to be....granted, most of our politicians are lawyers already, but in this case they would certainly be king.  It would be a mess...but despite conservative attacks on California...California has fixed itself to remove conservative obstruction of functional government whilst the federal government has not.

Verdict: As absolutely flawed as it would be, a ballot process instead of a legislature would at least stop both corruption and undue conservative attempts to destroy civilization.  Actual implementation would be difficult though not impossible.  Such a thing would likely come about in the most likely case if the states dissolve into their own smaller governments.  It could never be passed in a southern state.

CoEqual Legislative Branch - What if, instead of simply eliminating the legislature, we introduced a democratic body to act as a third branch of the legislature, or in other words require a popular vote on all laws, budgets and nominations?

Strengths: Crafting legislation becomes easier because basically this third branch doesn't.  It lets the legislatures do the refinement and it simply votes up and down.

Weaknesses: Of course, the problem with this is that legislatures, which are inherently flawed and corrupt would play games with the legislation.  You could say that all legislation must be single issue...but then rules lawyers will pass rules that try to parse what does or doesn't cover a single subject.  However, a combination of a ballot process and this 'co equal branch' of the legislature which allows a People's Assembly to over ride the legislatures might allow separation of issues into sane matters.

Verdict: This would largely vary on the culture of both the people at large and also the legislative assemblies.  Iceland could probably do this, but the United States, with the corrupt senate and the anarchistic elements determined to destroy civilization, a people's legislative branch would simply prevent any bill at all from ever passing.  Culture matters, and it matters most of all in the manifestation of its legislature and democratic assembly.

Virtual Chair - So what about a virtual non voting chair that is democratically controlled but can adopt actions typically currently taken by chairs such as acknowledging time, bringing bills before the committee etc?

Strengths: It allows a working group to perform the functions of a committee in terms of asking legislative questions in hearings, offer amendments, consider amendments etc, while removing the power of the committee chairs to be bribed, lock down things in committee etc.  It democratizes a legislature, and could be used in conjunction with a ballot initiative or a simple mass vote on legislation while removing things like spam etc.

Weaknesses: If there were not safeguards in place, a small group of people could potentially have the committee meet at three in the morning, manipulate the process etc.  It also means that those who are most familiar with the arcane rules of legislative procedure when voting for the virtual chair's actions would have the upper hand.

Verdict: I like this idea.  It's a hybrid system that works, and the weakness I cite actually has the advantage that the more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to actually understand the rules and be able to navigate the votes.  But in theory anyone could educate themselves, so while bribery is possible it would be MUCH harder to do.  But you could of course bribe committee members...but the chair could render them functionally useless if proven to be corrupt/conservative.

Multiple Virtual Chairs - So, I came up with this idea when brainstorming and in retrospect, I don't see much difference between a bunch of virtual groups working together and a wiki.
Strengths: It is kind of like a wiki and kind of like a virtual chair.  It would be VERY fluid, and with sufficient time locks in votes to prevent madness, it could work.  It would also be DANGEROUS.

Weaknesses: This is so radical a departure from any social construct or institution of which I am aware, that I really can't even begin to fathom what this would look like in practice.  Without some simulations or small scale implementation, it is simply too dangerous to try on any kind of a large scale.

Verdict: Nice theory.  Worthy of investigation.  My gut tells me it is perhaps ridiculous but would be fun to watch.

Real Time Vote By Proxy: So we live in an internet age.  Why not let me perpetually invest my voting power in a cause, party, organization and such that I like and be able to change it in real time? It's a representation situation and makes things highly fluid.  You would end up with ad hoc legislatures of the most powerful and most popular making decisions in a fluid way, but when you had some tiny little state or conservatives or the corrupt (IE....all one and the same) trying to obstruct things, such a fluid society could work around them with relative ease.  Timelocks against abuse in things covered by rights could protect by some of the worst abuses of the mob.

Strengths: Fluidity.  It would work.  It would therefore be a true manifestation of the will of the people without having weakness like static law makers or seasons of the year or specific election days.  If your legislator was obviously selling you out to RJ Reynolds, then you can depower them in the blink of an eye.

Weaknesses: Well, people are stupid and this means popular and pretty people become power brokers.  Think celebrity is bad now? This would make celebrity and power one and the same.  Hollywood would become Washington DC and you're likely to get the worst of both.  Furthermore, people are lazy and would likely be slow to divest their power to the unworthy.  It would require constant vigilance to prevent people selling their votes for money, and probably prove ultimately pointless like the war on drugs.

Verdict: I suspect ultimately we'll end up with something like this anyway.  And at least this way, people would get SOMETHING for their vote, as compared to simply 'screwed' over and over again by the elite.  This system acknowledges that bribery and patronage seem natural to human behavior and market based systems, and the result would vary with as many different  nations and cultures it emulated.  It would also make it more difficult for conservatives to stay in the way of change once the public could become convinced that whatever random xenophobic thing they're advocating against this time wasn't really the threat they pretended it to be.  Having said that, paranoia against drugs and communism and illegal immigrants have lasted decades, and so oppression would still occur.  Then again, legislatures do the same thing  And this way, once people did change, the oppression would stop much quicker.  So it would stymie conservatives and empower liberals...I think it better than legislatures but...not by much.

Overall verdict: I am starting to think the real problem is codified law, but haven't investigated or pondered the alternative sufficiently to propose something else at this time.

[Cons] Preamble

I have been challenged to come up with a better constitution, and so I shall begin to do so. I'll be going over each amendment and article, giving critiques about what is flaw and what I think can be better.

I shall start with the preamble.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

So, the first thing I find important about this is that it is indeed THE PEOPLE of the United States coming together in this document...meaning that this nonsensical notion that states are somehow separate sovereign entities is only partially correct. That is, after the constitution, the several states surrendered their sovereignty TO the United States. Now, do I think they should be able to leave? Sure. There is nothing in the document that says that they can't but WHILE they are in the United States, States exist to serve the PEOPLE and not the other way around. Thus, when states and local geographical areas gain more power than the people IN those areas, there is something fundamentally wrong.

The articles of confederation were fundamentally flawed, and a more perfect union was needed. But what was done once, can be done again. The constitution outlines the procedure for this, but it was not created according to the articles of confederation. The constitution serves us, not the other way around. We can have a new constitution without requiring renegade states to join us in a desire to make a new one. It serves US not the other way around.

What is just about our society? Elements of humanity are treated as commodity....justice IS a commodity. If you are rich you have one legal system and if you are not, you get another...much more flawed system. Medicine, the health of its population has also been commoditized in the great Mollocian mouth of crony capitalism. The liberty they establish for their posterity was for their rich, white male property owning posterity.

Having said that, this preamble is not inherently bad. In the interest of some continuity, I honestly believe we could keep it the way it is. With one exception.

I would add this sentance, "This constitution shall serve its people, not the other way around. As soon as this document and the articles therein shall cease to uphold these principles for the majority, then a new constitution must be formed."

[Cons] Tyrannos Tempus and the Folly of Seperating Natural and Legal Rights

Imagine if you will, Ogg the caveman. Ogg is a very intelligent cave man. He is brilliant. He is the Einstein of cavemen. While we do not know who exactly it was that invented the wheel, the lever, the pulley and fire, let us assume that Ogg is responsible for all of these things for purposes of this exercise. How hard would it be for Ogg to imagine Quantum mechanics?

Oh, you could, if you went in a time machine, and spent a good amount of time talking with Ogg about the idea...you might be able to get him to accept the basics. But bear in mind you have no tools with you, no obvious instruments besides your ability to appear in a time machine and your ability to understand one another. Even assuming you were able to teach Oggs the basics of Quantum mechanics, is Ogg really going to be good at it? Without thoroughly studying the work of those who came before, the arguments and observations that took place, how could Ogg possibly grasp the finer nuances of super string theory or the incredibly complex equations of the building blocks of our universe?

And really, Ogg is still human. So even if Ogg could possibly accept all this impossibleness, despite his talent and intelligence, what are the real odds he would bring his own baggage to the question? Einstein, brilliant and ground breaking though he was, could simply not accept Quantum mechanics and many of the elements that his own theory promise about Black Holes and the like. Were Ogg greater than Einstein, maybe.

Newton once said, "I have only accomplished what I have by standing on the shoulders of giants." Our society progresses. Our understanding progresses.

And, most important of all, on his 40th birthday, Ogg declared himself King and his eldest descendant to be king for all time. I, I assure you, am the rightful descendant and heir of Ogg. I am your king. Bow before me.

What, you say? Not going to do it? But...but...why? Ogg was smart. Ogg was brilliant. Ogg declared the law and ALL of the other cavemen at the time threw their feces at him which, in their day, indicated that they accepted this social compact.

It's all nonsense. Every bit of it. You're no more going to accept me as your king based on the fact that I say I'm Ogg's descendant than I would accept you.

Indeed, even if I were to take you back in time and produce genealogy stating that not only am I the heir of Ogg, that Ogg was in fact brilliant, and that every living human was descended from these feces flinging cavemen would you be likely to accept me as your king.

WHY? After all, our anscestors swore to it. If I can provide proof, you are LEGALLY bound to be serfs and slaves unto me.

Oh. Well, perhaps we can use a dollop of common sense, shall we? The vast majority of people do not WANT me to be king, and even were I to provide proof positive that Ogg and I were all the things we claimed...so what? How could Ogg possibly know who we are as a society now, much less be fit to govern us? Indeed, the very act of flinging feces to indicate worthiness as a kingship is disgusting. I didn't fling feces for Ogg, and neither did you, so why should he have any bearing on what we do today in our society?

So what then is the difference between 20 million years and 200 years? What is the difference between Ogg and the Founding Fathers save a closer locality and time and a greater understanding of science. True, the founding fathers were brilliant and worthy men. So was Ogg. True, our ancestors voted to accept the constitution in a due and valid election....so did our distant ancestors that flung feces at Ogg.

There are several counter arguments to be made at this point, but I'll try to make them in the most relevant order.

The first of course is, the military. That is to say, Sergeant Valiant and his platoon of Very Scary Marines, or our Navy Seals or indeed most of the worthy members of our military have sworn to uphold the constitution, not the Word of Ogg, and since they're the ones with the nice shiny guns and the most powerful military on earth, they're going to listen to what the President says, not Me, rightful ruler of us all by Declaration of Ogg.

To which I reply...I didn't vote for the constitution. I voted for our president because he was the least worst choice. I was born a citizen but I, personally, find no more relevance to men who lived 200 years ago than Ogg does. Ogg was worthy, so were the founding fathers. Worthiness does not mean relevance.

But let us be clear...the REASON I am not declared king has nothing to do with the arguements being made but because those with the power to enforce the desires of themselves and the rest of society BELIEVE IT TO BE SO. The constitution is an idea, nothing more. On a practical level, blessed with supernatural powers of argument, I could in one in a quadrillion possible universes convince people that I, as rightful heir of Ogg am the true king of us all and that they should follow me, and because they believed me, I WOULD BE KING.

This is all insane. But it is also very clearly reasoned. Our laws are laws because we believe them to be laws. Our constitution is relevant because we believe it to be relevant. And we are only restricted by it because we believe ourselves to be restricted by it.

Men who died, who are all dead, from 200 years ago, have only slightly more understanding of our society than Ogg. More importantly, they had ideas that we would consider utterly repugnant today; sexism, racism, classism, elitism, and in some case theological superiority. Some of them really did believe that their particular brand of Protestantism was superior to all others and wanted to establish their particular brand of religion as the founding religion. Thankfully, the majority of them did not.

But we have another church. This church is the Church of the Constitution. The constitution is both a blue print for our society and a symbol. As a blueprint, it is OK, though we could do worse. As a symbol it is held as important, though it is my personal observation that conservatives tend to revere it as a symbol more than liberals, who view the declaration of independence with a bit more reverence. This is purely anecdotal, but it is relevant in one capacity....

In the middle ages, church theologians argued how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. This was very serious to them, because it determined the nature of angels, the nature of god, and potentially the nature of matter itself. And yet, even were one to assume that God and Angel's existed, would not their existence be independent of that as constructed by the monks? If God and angels really wanted the monks to know, why not simply tell them? If five angels could dance on the head of a pin as compared to six...how MUCH of a difference would this make? Since the monks could not really affect this one way or another...it was to a certain degree mental masturbation.

Arguing over an interpretation of the Bible or the Koran or the Torah is kind of the same thing. God has His own interpretation but doesn't seem to see fit to tell people. And yet people will argue. Why? Well, perhaps because in part if they can convince enough people that they are right, they can get people to follow their way of thinking. But on a practical level are they right, or simply more skilled in convincing others of their beliefs?

If the constitution as symbol is relevant to us only because we believe it to be relevant (as compared to the word of Ogg) so then are the many sophistries of the church of the constitution so much wind if we can decide that the constitution isn't really relevant to us.

Which is why I argue against it. If the constitution, at its root, is inherently flawed, why should we be bound to it. I, as a follower of Christ, don't really care what your interpretation of the Koran is. Now, if I'm in Saudi Arabia, and you're pointing a gun at me, then to the extent I am willing to put up with not being shot, your will matters. So the interpretations of the Koran matter about who is pointing the guns at whom based on how they can persuade others, but the Koran is the Koran and at least to me, it is not my scripture. But if you are pointing a gun at me, then it is relevant but only to the extent that you are controlling my actions through force. Your arguments about what it means are only relevant to the degree to which I accept it as a symbol.

So too, then, as a society, are the arguments of the adherents of the church of the constitution relevant only to the degree to which we accept the validity of the symbol of the constitution. If enough of us cease to recognize this as a symbol, then sure as the sun shall rise in the morning, it shall be us telling the church of the constitution what we want our society to be, rather than the other way around.

This is not to insult Ogg, the Koran or the founding fathers. This is just a practical reality. Until God sends Angels to make us behave in a particular way, tis the folks with guns that make the rules as they are enforced.

Which is why silly columns like this one are so silly. You talk about Calvinball or some other rules, but you're just arguing different points about the Doctrine of your holy constitution. The pristine holy constitution as pictured by the Holy Constitution does not exist. It is a platonic construct in their minds, and since they are human minds, constitution purists today will interpret the document differently than purists tomorrow. The meaning of the words will change as will those who interpret them. On a practical level, adherents to the church of the constitution really usually invoke it to deny us our rights as defined by the morays of our modern society. A right is what we say it is. A moray is what we say it is.

Men two hundred years ago have no more moral authority over us than Ogg. To say otherwise is to lie.

Now if you are going to argue that we should honor it for stability's sake, I've already covered that point here. A social contract is best made by the living members of that society. A flexible document is a more stable document and prevents the tyranny of the minority as exercised by the current zealots of the church of the constitution from denying us the things we want and that make sense. It isn't that liberal ideas can't be made to work on a practical level...look at Europe. It is simply that some regions of our country want to use the constitution as an excuse to keep their outdated ways of thinking in charge.

Fine. Get rid of the constitution if that's the case. It's a flawed symbol anyway since the stink of slavery is written into its very fabric. Talk about 'self-evident truths'....can anyone really honestly expect us to believe owning another human being against their will is morally acceptable? I find it far more plausible that Ogg would find the idea abhorrent, don't you? Especially if we asked Ogg to be a slave?

BSDM events might have folks volunteering as slaves, but outside of that, we don't have many people volunteering for the job, especially rich, white southern property owning Christian males. That being the case, I think we can agree that slavery is not only evil, but that symbolically, anything that apologizes for it or accommodates it is morally tainted.

Like the United States Constitution.

Let us throw off the chains of the past and build something better. We can do better. We must do better. And if we must, expel the region that insists on being a chain, as it has for the last two hundred years, on improving our country and let them have their state established religion, the Immaculate Shrine of the United States Constitution...a document that is meant to serve the people, instead of the other way around.

[Phil] The Hundred Year Rule

I am exploring the idea a simple 100 year rule regarding claims to land. The world is full of ancient cultures, and in many places you can have as many as 10-20 different groups claiming the same territory, some with a claim that goes back centuries or even millennia. But most of these people took the land from someone else, and in some cases go to ridiculous lengths to doctor or obscure science by stating otherwise. There is *NO* group of humanity that has some noble peace like spirit that has not engaged in war of one kind or another, either within their group or with outside groups. It might not be war as we recognize it, but be assured, they've taken up arms and they've killed to maintain their tribal area.

The problem with our species is that our greatest gift, language and symbolic recognition, is also our greatest curse. Magic, mythology and stories are, to me, the best part about being human. But our history should work for us, not the other way around. In law, there is a reason for a statute of limitations. People can change, and also there is a finite amount of willpower to enforce things, so why go after a crime that no one cares about anymore? Or at least has no logical reason to care about?

But of course things are more complicated than that. To begin with, following the metaphor, there are certain crimes which are never forgiven or forgotten; like murder or bank robbery, both due to their seriousness, as well as the fact that if there was a statute of limitations for crimes such as these, people would be more likely to commit them and simply play the long game to wait them out. Conversely, genocide is a crime that should never be forgotten, nor should forced migrations.

Moreover, are we going to forget important dates of the past? One culture's holiday and independence can be another's bitter defeat about lost territory. So long as 'the founder of the nation' is honored for their heroic deeds, the baggage of their actions in the past are going to cause problems. People are not going to forget their history easily, and indeed in some cases, their entire culture is defined by events in ancient times.

I am not proposing that we forget history, only that we forgive most of it with regards to territory. But I think the real key to this is self-determination by the people on the land, who are actually living there. This doesn't solve all problems, but it eliminates a lot of gray areas. For example, the real reason I've been considering this is the absolutely ridiculous claims by Argentina against the Falkland islands. Argentina hasn't had anyone from their nation living on these islands in nearly 150+ years but they're making a big political deal about them, and because of international politics, south America is rallying around them. Well then why isn't Argentina returning the land they occupy to its indigenous populations and moving back to Spain? You could make the same claim against the indigenous populations and the bearing straight, but they didn't keep written records. Argentina's claim of 'imperialism' is silly. Its not because the UK wasn't an imperial power...it's because Argentina itself was created as part of the imperial legacy of Spain. Yes, they fought for independence...but if the Falkland islands had fought against Spain and the UK would they claim the land still? Is self-determination only valid if they want independence?

This gets even more complicated, but I believe is still applicable in places like Scotland or Quebec. The concept of the nation state requires coherence, but if a part of a territory wants independence, and seeks it for more than a century, it is foolish not to grant it to them. Let the American South have a vote, once and for all, if they truly want independence, and if they do, let them go. If not then let them stay in the country for another hundred years. Let the reservations in the United States be TRUE independent nations instead of museums for First Nation cultures that are EVEN NOW still exploited by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and corrupt western state governments.

Of course, the counter balance to this is...theft of land once this rule is implemented, against the will of the people that live there is verboten. It means that the Israeli settlements stop. It means that the ones that are there are either frozen or dealt with. Ancient claims of the holy land are based on a religion, and religion should not affect governmental policy. Now, realistically is it possible to keep it out? Of course not. Islam is on the rise in countries which are majority members of that faith, and they seem in the mood to make Theocracies or Theocracy Lite. Well, I consider the idea foolish, but it certainly isn't worth sending an army to stop them. However, the majority of the world's secular governments have no reason to recognize claims that are more than a hundred years old.

It’s a fairly simply policy, but it can work both ways. Let the people living on the ground determine what nation they belong to. Let the people using force to move people around stop it. Make it unrewarded. After that, another vote takes place in another 100 years.

What about current claims? What about Yugoslavia and Kirkuk and have a dozen knots around the world? You solve them like you solve any knot...one link at a time. It means that anywhere there is peace and stability now, all people there get a plebiscite, a vote...Scotland, Quebec, the American South...they get a vote and a chance to form their own nation, and the world recognizes that. And all of the places still under stress have a choice...either renounce their claims or keep fighting their own wars, but be ignored by the world without recognition or trade until the parties involved can settle it in a way that they all agree to. It means that all the parties in Kirkuk or Israel have to BOTH agree to a peace or NONE of them get it and none of them get trade.

Do I expect this to happen? No. But I find it a better solution than what we currently have. I'm certainly open to better suggestions, but until we have one world government, the nation state should be determined by people that WANT to live in it, rather than order imposed by one group over another. Technology and sociological advances now allow both large and small states to be possible. And in cases where an accommodation cannot be found, let paid migration take place. Let there be a place for all in a place they can accept, or at least the closest they can.

Utopian, I know. But worth consideration...

Especially since it would finally shut Argentina up about the Falklands. I'm sorry, 'Las Malvinas'.