Democratic-Federalism (Paperback) | Released: 23 Sep 2020

Democratic-Federalism provides a better fit for a political environment that includes wealth inequality, climate change, and the re-emerging threat of authoritarianism. Federalism is an appropriate response to an ever shifting and dangerous geo-political environment. The solutions presented in prior periods marked with less economic and political security are better fitted to meet the demands of a harsher, less forgiving, and less predictable future. The real question is, does the next 100 years look like the last 100 years, or periods 150-300 years ago. Technology will always advance but will people retreat in the morals, principles, and expectations. This is not to declare economic systems of representation corrupt and inefficient, but they are tools that are more appropriate for more volatile and less certain eras. Democratic-Federalism has one very important advantage over other ways to politically organize nations. Democratic-Federalism promotes strong states that can defend themselves against authoritarians. When the states have sovereignty, they can protect themselves with legal arguments during a compromised election. They are lawfully entitled to form and regulate their own militia, often through National Guard Armies and local police forces. They have distinct budgetary systems with their own credit. The independence of states within a federal system ensures that only a portion of them will be infected by authoritarianism before the other identifies the issue and mobilizes to mitigate the coercive and deleterious condition. If the states can organize themselves in defense of the nation, they can discourage most of the bad actors from attempting a coup or authoritarian take-over. One of the more important properties of Democratic-Federalism is its ability to extend the life of democracy by emphasizing the representation of wealthier districts and increasing the adjusted per capita income of voting residents. Higher per capita incomes are associated with states prolonging their status as a democracy. This could be a critical component of nation building exercises after occupation. If an occupying nation could better guarantee success after installing democratic entitlements in the host nation, it could justify the large amount of labor and capital spent on the effort. Anything that makes it more likely the occupied nation will achieve high quality democratic status should be considered a viable option or strategy when nation-building. Another important property GDP-based representation is that It permits one state to incorporate another state that gains proportional representation in the long term but has reduced representation in the first few years of the new union. States that lose wars often have decimated economies with low GDP. When GDP is used as the one of the determinants of political representation, it ensures that the occupying nation has an initial advantage in GDP and representation. However, after the new state's economy is rebuilt, it will have a more equal GDP and gain representational parity with the other states in the union. This is the promise of econometric representation. The new state will have a decade or two to inculcate and acclimate to the new culture of democracy before they have a reciprocal relationship. During this incubation period, the state will benefit from an imbalance of tax subsidies and investment revenues. As the new state develops a stronger economy, it gains more and more representation, eventually gaining parity with the other states in the union.