Chapter 420: Rights and Wrongs of the Human Variety

"That's everything I had to say, thank you. I yield the floor to President Trump of the United States." Alexander sat back down in his seat and Trump immediately took his place.

One after another, the world leaders gave their planned remarks, until the last one. Out of consideration for the limited time, they were all limited to two minutes, and none were followed by rebuttals or other "classic" debate formats. Once all of the initial remarks had been delivered, the initial list of proposed amendments was culled according to the majority opinion among the leaders, as well as some common-sense guidelines.

The culling process was relatively fast, as it was only to remove redundancies and proposed amendments that were already ridiculous on their face, like the one targeted at age of consent. The rest of the culled propositions were through the majority opinions expressed in the leaders' remarks.

Soon, the list was much more manageable and the first round of voting began. Anything that wasn't unanimously supported at this stage was tabled for further discussion in later meetings, while anything that managed to garner unanimous support was immediately enshrined in the new world constitution.

"With that, I declare that Article I of the new world constitution, 'Human Rights', has been completed and enshrined as law," President Nazurbayev said, bringing down his gavel.

The full article was displayed on the screen in the hall and posted on the website for people to read.

The article enumerated many things as human rights, among which were the right to equal protection under the law; the right to life, liberty, and security; the freedom from arbitrary arrest and exile; right to adequate shelter and privacy; the right of free healthcare; and free and unfettered access to the internet.

It was the first time the concept of "human rights" had been standardized and enshrined as law. While there had been previous lists of what were considered rights before, they were largely subjective and unenforceable due to the lack of a centralized judicial system that every country subscribed to. The International Criminal Court was a good idea, but politics had ensured that participation in and recognition of the court itself was voluntary; its implementation was akin to handing people the ability to determine whether or not they could be prosecuted for crimes they commit.

"Now for debate on Article II, Governance. Mr. Michael, the floor is yours, please state your detailed plan on your proposed government as well as your part in it, if any."

Aron, who had remained silent throughout the entire discussion on human rights, stood and adjusted his tie as he began speaking.

"Thank you, President Nazurbayev. I recommend the formation of the empire of humanity, with an emperor to lead the world in a united direction, ensuring that we progress into the future in a controlled, sustained fashion that guarantees advancement and unity. All borders will be abolished, and the world reorganized into regions, prefectures, cities, towns, and villages, with leaders assigned at every level."

Aron could feel people all over the world sneering at him as he spoke. 'They must think I'm a madman,' he thought, then cast a steely gaze directly into the broadcasting camera in front of the speaker's podium.

There were also a few coughs in the room that he ignored as he continued, "My reasoning for that is that democracy simply does not work on a large scale. It's fine in the small scale, when talking about a few dozen people that require a leader to ensure a goal is met, but the larger the population, the more their interests become misaligned and impossible to accommodate.

"Human nature is such that the masses will always vote in line with their short-term benefits rather than considering the cost that others will need to pay in order to benefit the individual voting. That benefit-seeking behavior leads to aspiring leaders being incentivized to lie, resulting in a neverending list of unkept promises and the implementation of policies that are harmful to the whole but benefit the minority. The minority I speak of are those who have the power and ability to guarantee a politician's reelection..

"Consider the coal industry. Despite coal being the most damaging and least efficient form of energy production, political candidates in the United States, Australia, and many others are forced to promise things like opening new mines under the guise of creating new jobs. That's a lie—the purpose of opening those new mines and fighting against the legislation that bans or regulates coal mining is to benefit a few people, not the masses. Data shows that there are less than three hundred thousand people in the entire world that actually work in coal mines, much less than what people are led to believe by politicians.

"The ability to manipulate the masses in the pursuit of something so pointless as ensuring one remains in power only serves to highlight the weakness of democracy on a vast scale. It's also impossible to remain uncorrupted over a long period of time in positions of power and authority, so there are problems with terms. It's difficult to ensure that a democratically elected leader is both experienced enough to entrust with the task of governance and new enough that the inevitable corruption hasn't had time to sink in yet.

"That snowballs into a tangled mess of competing interests and eventually leads to a very short-sighted government, as the politicians are incentivized to seek the most short term gains in order to guarantee their reelection, placing their own interests above those they are meant to serve. It's a self-perpetuating, vicious cycle." Aron paused for a moment to let that sink in.

Once people had had enough time to consider what he'd said, he continued, "Despite the gross weaknesses of democratic governing, it's very effective on a small scale or where long-term planning isn't needed. The biggest counter to most of the weaknesses of democracy is an informed and involved electorate, which is only realistically achieved by small groups. That way everyone knows everyone involved, which simply isn't possible when you consider the requirements of constant campaign cycles where politicians seek election or reelection."