Leaders of states come together with a common purpose to negotiate a treaty and a framework of governance (constitution) for their new union. They then take the concept back to their electorates and hold referenda to let citizens decide whether they wish to ratify the treaty, join the union and adopt the contents of the proposed constitution.
Citizen referenda are under-utilized instruments of
democracy. While historically, it was possible in small, localized communities
for each member to have a direct say in the affairs of their community, across
larger communities and distances, it was more practical to elect
representatives to meet and decide on issues at a centralized point of
government.
However, this traditional justification for indirect
representation has been substantially eroded by the ease with which online
surveys and polls can efficiently canvass the views of huge numbers of people
across great distances.
These new polling tools have been emphatically embraced by
the private sector to support relatively trivial decision-making processes,
like whether contestant A or contestant B should progress to the next round of
a reality television show. Unfortunately, major policy decisions very seldom
put to a direct citizen vote. In fact, in some cases, citizen referenda are not
even legally permitted, including in the case of the United States of America,
when voting on decisions to go to war.
However, the United States of America remains the prime
example of the successful formation of a union that arose from thirteen
formerly colonial states uniting on the 4th of July 1776 behind a truth they
held to be self-evident: that all persons are created equal and with
unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The process of negotiating and concluding an international
treaty for the constitution of a United States of Earth seems likely to be a
long and challenging one but it is a process that will surely follow from
increased population and demand for more equitable access to the planet’s
shrinking natural resources.
