World Government
Why one world government?
Governments, in many ways, are like small children. They have an Id that demands immediate satisfaction; they are covetous of that which is possessed by other governments. The super ego that restrains these governments from acting upon these egocentric demands has several forms. It may be fear of punishment or disapproval by parent nations who might not allow aggressive nations into trade alliances. It may be manifested in restrained international policy with the goal of a long term profit through delayed gratification. In the ideal case, a nation's super ego would arise from a true understanding of and commitment to an adult, fair world order.
As long as there are multiple world governments, there will invariably be a struggle for control of land, people, ideology, and other resources. That is the nature of government. Any government that does not promote the interests of its people over the interests of foreigners is necessarily corrupt. For this reason, there can never be a long term world peace until there is a single government.
The notion of a single, world government has been dismissed summarily by a number of respected authors. Alvin Toffler wrote, in The Third Wave,
The other, closely related fantasy pictures a planet run by a single, centralized World Government. This is usually imagined as an extension of some existing institution or government- a "United States Of The World," a "Planetary Proletarian State," or simply the United Nations writ large. Again the thinking is based on simplistic extensions of Second Wave principles.
However ridiculous a single world government sounds, the notion of many independent idealistic governments arising and sharing the world must be accepted as exponentially more ludicrous.
The World Government, like the historic United States Government, has three branches; Judicial, Legislative, and Executive. Each branch has specific duties and functions as would be expected by their names.
The Legislative branch of the World Government is responsible for creating and modifying our laws. We have a unicameral system, where regions are represented proportional to their relative population. Students of United States history fault this representation as being unfair to the interests of distinct regions. However, Since there are no distinct states or countries, and there is no financial disincentive to equal sharing of resources by all geographic areas, it makes no sense to also represent geographical areas with an equal voice. This realization allows our World Government to operate with much greater efficiency than a bicameral system.
By the end of the twentieth century, there were over twenty million workers employed by the government in the United States alone.
The Legislative branch on the Regional and Local levels follow the same model as the World Government. However, because most of our legal code is global, the duties of these legislators is greatly diminished. Their tribulations often involve matters of land use planning, and resource large scale resource allocation. There are regional and local administrators charged with managing resources, labor, housing, and health care for example, but the laws which govern their decisions and actions are for the most part the same as the laws across the globe.
Popular elections for Representatives are held every two years, and Representatives may serve a maximum of two terms. This is done using the Internet, with Swipe Cards to identify voters. Citizens may enter their vote, and change their vote any number or times until the voting season has been officially ended. Voters may also submit questions to the candidates through the Internet as well. Similarly, constituents can contact their representatives using the Internet.
Why not use direct representation then?
Even though we clearly possess the technology which would allow citizens to directly vote for or against every new bill, there are several problems created by a direct representation scenario. First, it would be quite possible for an important bill with vast ramifications to be slipped through the voting system without coming to the attention of the general population. In a representative system, elected officials would have a full time job consisting of keeping up with current legislation, as well as perhaps a support staff to assist them. Second, despite our "advanced" civilization, there are still many, many people who cannot understand the "big picture"; who cannot think globally; who cannot detect the hidden agendas which may lie beneath the surface of a bill.
Alvin Toffler suggested in his book The Third Wave a compromised form of representation where votes cast by citizens, in this case over the Internet, would give a certain weight in congress that could affect the outcome of representative voting. In our system a slightly different twist is applied. Our representatives cast their votes a specified minimum length of time before the voting period is completed. During the time between the date when the representative's vote is cast and the closing of the vote, citizens from each district may petition using the Internet to change the vote. If a majority of a statistically significant fraction of the citizens from the district cast an opposing vote, the representative's vote is reversed. Therefore, in our system, if there is a great enough outcry from the constituent, a representative must change his vote to represent the will of the people.
Why allow political parties?
Critics have suggested that our World Government abolish political parties. Their argument is twofold. First, the existence of parties gives rise to power and privilege. Second, the existence of competing parties slows the political process by creating debate and obstruction along party lines. But governments must change over time, and the existence of political parties facilitates this change by bringing issues (as well as unfortunately manufactured non-issues) to the attention of the public. To abolish political parties would facilitate a totalitarian state with the loss of human rights. So, there continue to be organized political parties. Given our civil liberties, it would be impossible to ban them. Furthermore, they continue to serve their historic purpose of presenting voters with a more or less unified platform. One notable difference is that the parties no longer raise money to further their agendas. This has limited corruption in our governmental parties. Likewise, since there are no for-profit companies or privileged tycoons, there is little risk of influence-peddling.
The Executive Branch of the World Government consists of the twelve member Executive Council. These leaders are elected to four year terms, and may serve a maximum of two terms. Their terms are staggered such that each year three Council Members are up for reelection. This scheme provides a degree of stability while also allowing for an annual influx of new members and new ideas. The Council has veto power over legislation created in Congress, which can be overridden if a bill is favored by a two thirds majority of the Congress. Also part of the Executive Branch are the many governmental agencies such as the Housing Authority, Social Services, and the Bureau of Food. Likewise, on the Regional and Local levels there are Governors and Mayors respectively, and representatives of the World Government agencies mentioned above. At the bottom of the Executive Pyramid are the Neighborhood Chiefs, locally elected for one year, who are responsible for handling small neighborhood problems and allocation of minor resources to the general citizen.
The Judicial branch of the World Government involves a system of trial courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court which preside over matters of World Law, and World criminal matters. The Regional Judicial branch follows the same structure, except that most minor matters can be handled with a Video Appearance before the Court eliminating the need for travel.
As in the historic American system, each of the three branches of government interact with each other and are limited by a series of checks and balances. The Council has veto power, but the Congress can override with a two thirds majority. The Court can declare congress's laws unconstitutional. The Council chooses Justices, and the Justices and impeach Council members.
Due in part to our unique system of government and non-economic nature, we can easily experiment with modifications to our laws and policies. Throughout the world, there are dozens of Isolated communities which are used to study the effects of proposed legislation, experimental labor motivational theories, and economic interventions to balance supply and demand. Citizens unwilling to partake in such experimental conditions may relocate to other regions.