Today, the United States is the biggest advocate for democracy and equality. In the United States Declaration of Independence, it is written that "all men are created equal". Thus, in its laws, each person is treated equally. Everyone of age has the right to vote, and each vote has equal weight. But of course, there are certain flaws in its system, since states have the same number of Senators regardless of their population. Which means that in the Senate, the voices of each person in the less populated states are actually bigger than those from states with bigger populations.
At the national level, most countries try to solve this by having the number of elected representatives proportional (more or less) to the number of people they are representing. But at the international level? This is hardly the case.
In the United Nations, each nation is given a vote. The votes of each nation is equal to any other nation. Which sounds fair, until you see the flaw of equality. China and India, which together makes up about 35% of the world's population, but only has 2 out of 193 votes. 35% of the world has only 1% of the voice. 35% of the world's population has only 1% say in what happens to the Earth as a whole. This is hardly "all men are created equal", unless by "all men", the United States is referring to "all men in the United States". If that is so, then such equality is no longer universal, but rather local (limited to the United States), which undermines the United States' advocacy of its ideas to other nations.
This is not just limited to the United Nations. The World Bank, IMF, many other international institutions are similarly "unequal". For example, rich nations having a bigger voting share than poorer nations. What does this mean? The rich has a bigger voice than the poor... hardly "all men are created equal".
If we really believe in "all men are created equal", nations, beginning with the biggest leader, the United States, will have to revise their political systems to ensure proportional representation of its own population at the national level. This is to give each person the same weight of voice in determining the future of his or her own nation. International systems will then need to be revised to allocate voting shares according to population sizes to give each person the same weight of voice in determining our common future on the Earth.
Until such a day comes, we can only say that "all men are created equal" is a lofty ideal, and dream about the day when it actually happens. And of course, for those who believe in such an ideal, work endlessly toward achieving it.
At the national level, most countries try to solve this by having the number of elected representatives proportional (more or less) to the number of people they are representing. But at the international level? This is hardly the case.
In the United Nations, each nation is given a vote. The votes of each nation is equal to any other nation. Which sounds fair, until you see the flaw of equality. China and India, which together makes up about 35% of the world's population, but only has 2 out of 193 votes. 35% of the world has only 1% of the voice. 35% of the world's population has only 1% say in what happens to the Earth as a whole. This is hardly "all men are created equal", unless by "all men", the United States is referring to "all men in the United States". If that is so, then such equality is no longer universal, but rather local (limited to the United States), which undermines the United States' advocacy of its ideas to other nations.
This is not just limited to the United Nations. The World Bank, IMF, many other international institutions are similarly "unequal". For example, rich nations having a bigger voting share than poorer nations. What does this mean? The rich has a bigger voice than the poor... hardly "all men are created equal".
If we really believe in "all men are created equal", nations, beginning with the biggest leader, the United States, will have to revise their political systems to ensure proportional representation of its own population at the national level. This is to give each person the same weight of voice in determining the future of his or her own nation. International systems will then need to be revised to allocate voting shares according to population sizes to give each person the same weight of voice in determining our common future on the Earth.
Until such a day comes, we can only say that "all men are created equal" is a lofty ideal, and dream about the day when it actually happens. And of course, for those who believe in such an ideal, work endlessly toward achieving it.
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