The Best Is Yet to Come: Part II

“What professions do all these senators and congressmen have? Law, law, law, law, business, law, law, law … Where are the scientists? Where are the engineers? Where’s the rest of … life?”

— Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Constitutionality is of utmost importance for rule of law, and the value system infused in any given constitution will reflect itself in practical outcomes that flow from the premises laid by that document. From the Magna Carta to the American Constitution, groundbreaking, revolutionary advancements in humanist intellectualism have marked the progress of civilization. Constitutionality ensures that the balance of power within the leadership of a society is checked within the rule of law. It is the ultimate framework of law, and a proper constitution is what maintains a clear benchmark of governance. While old-style monarchies were the progenitors of the modern democratic republics, the greatest fallacy is the assumption that just because democratic republics are superior to their despotic predecessors, they are the pinnacle of government systems. If simple despotic monarchy is analogous to a human child in terms of an intellectual base behind that system, democratic republicanism can be seen as the teenager — more mature and advanced, with a more solid intellectual foundation. The most important thing to understand is that democratic republicanism is the progenitor of Merito-democratic Republicanism. Meritocracy is the full grown adult — the apex of governance we’ve yet to see applied.

We add “Meritocratic” to “democratic”, and keep “Republicanism” because rule of law and constitutionality are of utmost importance for the appropriate balance of power among the leadership. To that end, we can advance Republicanism by improving universal suffrage with qualified suffrage: while all citizens (hence universal) will have the opportunity to fit themselves to the task of voting, all elections will no longer be sufficiently run by aesthetics and sound bites, but by complex theses that are vetted by individuals knowledgeable about the field in question. In other words, no more balderdash elections.

So, what will the Meritocratic Constitution look like? Surely, elements of modern democratic constitutions will remain, or vary slightly, such as term limits, checks and balances, and freedom of speech. Others will be omitted, such as pure, universal suffrage. Elements that will be introduced are Qualified Universal Suffrage, the strict standard of reason into lawmaking and interpreting, the explicit banning of nepotism and cronyism, the allocation of estate tax funds into education, the outlining of the Meritocratic Supreme Court, and the application of the scientific method in legislation, among others.

It is crucial to understand that reason will be the guiding light, the leading principle in governance, and that the scientific method will be applied to the passage of all laws. As an example, it is empirically sound that evolution is a fact and that cosmology spans billions of years. Therefore, it will simply be unconstitutional to teach abrahamic creationism as a fact to children. Therefore, unlike in a democratic republic, where simple power of the majority can dictate policy, evolution vs. creationism will never even be considered as a debate. Because it is a matter of science, it will be up to the state’s council of scientists, and perhaps philosophers and mathematicians, because they have Meritocratically proven their knowledge in the subject. Any debates that cannot be resolved within respective councils will be managed by the Supreme Court, who, according to the constitution will not be lawyers, but people who have expressed the highest calibre of talent in philosophy, logic, and reason.

Finally, the constitution will explicitly outline that the value system, the intellectual framework of the state that is bound to that constitution, will be one of continuously maximising citizens’ entelechies, e.g., the realization of their potential. If a child is proven to be prone to insecurity, crime, or mental illness, it is the state’s duty to provide him or her with the necessary education, social, and mental health support for the fulfillment of their potential.

In short, the Merito-democratic Republic relies on its constitution, just like modern democratic republics. The Merito-democratic Constitution will be unique in its maintenance of reason as the ultimate benchmark; in outlawing nepotism and cronyism; and in maintaining estate taxes that are automatically to be used towards the positive rearing of children into citizens, via Catered and Comprehensive Education and social support. If the president of the Merito-democratic Republic is proven by the Supreme Court to have acted against the constitution, s/he will be impeached for violating the rule of law, and hence adequate checks and balances are maintained.

By Phoenix Goodman