In a piece in the Guardian yesterday, Jonathan Freedland called for the world to be able to vote for US president because, as he put it, "This election will be decisive not just for the United States but for the future of the world". He goes on to relate the idea to the 1776 Declaration of Independence:
"That 1776 declaration is worth rereading. Its very first sentence demands "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind": isn't that exactly what the world would like from America today? The document goes on to excoriate the distant emperor George for his recklessness, insisting that authority is only legitimate when it enjoys "the consent of the governed". As the world's sole superpower, the US now has global authority. But where is the consent?"
Where indeed....Anyway, good to see the idea, which was originally included in our 2003 compendium Setting the World Alight, making it into the mainstream media.... [You can view the original idea, submitted to us by an American, here: The world votes for the US president]
As we've covered before, there are several sites which have a similar idea at their heart: Igoest.com, WorldVotes.org and US-Election.org to name but a few.....
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