Conclusion

On the basis of the above analysis it may be conjectured that protection of the right to a secret ballot on the basis of common sense and the universal standards of electoral practice implied by Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is integrally connected to problems of conflict resolution on a world historical scale. These difficulties have their origins in failure to properly complete the transition from government based on superstition and force to government based on reason and consent due to problems of conservative intransigence, lack of strategic clarity on the part of democratic forces, aristocratic interference, and opportunism.

For these reasons modern democracy has not been developed in accordance with the basic truths of common sense. Against this background the basic standards of common sense understanding in regard to democratic progress have nevertheless found their most concise, though still incomplete expression in the American Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. In so far as it upholds the tenets espoused in these documents the United States accordingly remains the most advanced republic in the world best able to protect fundamental human rights and to serve as an example of leadership in global political progress.

However it also remains the case that the US constitution is too strongly oriented to the principle of aristocracy in political organisation and the distribution of inherited wealth. Sortition is the essence of democracy, but there is too little regard paid to it in US political process. The conclusions of the American constitutional convention incorporated an exaggerated estimate of the requirement for specialised skills in all branches of US Government, with the notable exception of the judicial process. This exaggeration reflects and is largely a consequence of the compromise with aristocracy which was necessary in the 18th century for American democracy, as was also the failure to directly address the need for social regulation of inherited wealth. This necessity came about due to the failure of the ruling power to adopt a consistently positive approach to facilitating the transition from government based on force and superstition to government based on reason and consent. This circumstance made aristocracy a necessarily central organisational component of revolutionary struggle, and it also, given the prevailing balance of forces between radicalism and conservatism of the period, made compromise with aristocratic factions a pragmatically necessary option.

The compromise with the French and Spanish monarchy, the American slavocracy and freemasonry, all of which represent aristocratic interests, has not been fully overcome since the revolution. One of the key features of this compromise has been misrepresentation of the self evident truth that sortition - the chief form of election in Athenian democracy - is the most practicable method of election best able to contain the deleterious influences of factionalism, including secret factionalism. This misrepresentation was effected chiefly, according to the historical facts which are available for examination, by James Madison. His action in misrepresenting sortition signifies the point of departure between the basic truths of common sense and the interests of aristocracy in American democracy, and is the key event which led in turn to confusion within American radicalism, a circumstance which had debilitating consequences for the cause of democratic progress on a world scale.

This was the basic circumstance in which European labour failed to overcome the totalitarian tendencies of the French revolution, and in which idealism, dialectical materialism and pragmatism later assumed hegemony in radical political philosophy. The American revolution was the best led, most advanced achievement in democratic progress of the modern period. Its weaknesses have not even been properly identified, leave alone addressed, by global radicalism, which on a general basis has failed to overcome the rupture of the tenuous relation between science, politics and common sense understanding which developed largely in consequence of these weaknesses and limitations. The growth of totalitarian ideology on the Left took place in this context, in which the radical standpoint in regard to democratic rights has been largely inverted and contaminated by communist fifth column practices. Modern radicalism bears the hallmark of this problematic, including in regard to defence of the right to a secret ballot and its relation to factional self interest and the use of postal ballots on demand.

Against this background democratic participation in American society can therefore best be improved not by lowering electoral standards in regard to the use of absentee ballots, but by incorporating greater use of sortition in the constitution and greatly increasing, accordingly, the number of ordinary citizens paid for political work. Various pilot projects could be undertaken to test out such procedures, with a view to amending, if necessary, the US constitution on the basis indicated by Franklin, Jefferson, Paine and others in regard to the following concerns:

First, the principle that the earth belongs to the living - an appropriate constitutional measure developing the 16th Amendment on income tax could be adopted. Second, correction of James Madison's misrepresentation of Athenian democratic practice. This could be brought about by further developing the role of sortition beyond the judicial process to the legislature, in regard to electoral practice, and, where possible, the executive, in regard to recruitment practices. In this way much greater numbers of ordinary citizens could take part professionally in the decision making process who have been selected by the use of sortition either in electoral or recruitment practices. A policy of payment for such greater numbers of ordinary citizens selected through sortition to take part in political decision making process, as was the practice in Athenian democracy, should accordingly be implemented. There are also other areas in which the use of random selection in recruitment practices for both ordinary citizens and specialists can be employed: civil service, defence, media, academic institutions, security and social services could all benefit from such a policy. Similarly, in the field of industrial relations both trade unions and company management boards could incorporate sortition as a complementary method of election.

In this way Jefferson's vision of a flexible, participatory democratic republic able to facilitate radical constitutional review and if necessary reform upon a regular, long term cycle can be fulfilled and completed in accordance with the basic truths of common sense understanding. This would provide an example to the world of how tendencies towards chronic, factional polarisation within the relatively narrow, representative parameters of democratic power may be ameliorated and developed to serve the general interest upon a non-antagonistic foundation of political cooperation, common purpose and equality in the search for optimal solutions to problems associated with the correlation of social justice, economic efficiency, and human rights. This in turn would provide the most secure foundation upon which related questions of conflict, poverty and oppression throughout the world can best be addressed. It is a self evident truth that sortition can serve to contain the deleterious influences of secret factions and chronic factional polarisation: the US constitution amended in this way would therefore better facilitate struggle against and defeat of totalitarian enemies both by ensuring the greatest possible unity of democratic forces and by helping to prevent infiltration and subversion of political, military, social and economic institutions by fifth column forces.

Conflict management could be pursued on an international scale first by informal, then by formal agreement in regard to this understanding of the leading role of the United States in global democratic development and these objectives of constitutional reform. Meaningful cooperation between radicalism and conservatism could be established to deal with issues of ethnic and religious conflict in the developing world. Constitutional reform could thereafter proceed both in the United States and in other countries in emulation of these changes, where suitable adaptations to local and national conditions could be developed. This could include the communist states, taking account of practical considerations concerning the need to maintain stability, chief among which are the existing ratios of private to public sector spending. The international aspect of such a process of constitutional development could accordingly be coordinated and appropriate changes in policy made, including within the United Nations.

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