Well, it is obvious why I can’t vote for Biden. I am not a USA citizen, so I do not have any say in the matter at all. However, I do care about who the POTUS is and I really do feel that I, and with me, billions of people around the globe, should actually have a say in the matter.
The problem is, the USA likes to position itself as the world’s policeman. It is constantly sticking its nose into other countries’ businesses, pretending to care about democracy and freedom and whatnot, whilst not caring about any of those things, not ever the whatnot.
Not to mention the almighty gall of US presidents being proclaimed the “Leader of the free world”. What exactly is the free world they are considered to be leaders of? And on what authority do they assume that title for themselves?
I am on record saying that the USA was a proto-fascist state since before 9/11 and it has been shedding the “proto” a bit by bit ever since Reagan. It slowed slightly under Obama but compensated for that by accelerating even more under Trump. And now, the self-aggrandizing title “Leader of the free world” is carried by an open fascist who does his best to deny the vote even to the citizens on whose behalf he is supposed to govern.
And all I, and with me the rest of the world, can do, is to watch from the sidelines and hope for the best. I think US presidents should either be voted on globally, or they should stop poking their noses outside the US borders. Neither of those two things will happen, which makes me despair.
I know the idea needs some refinement, but whatever. Please vote for Biden, if you can. More than just who gets to sit in the White House for 4 years is at stake.
Um… What? What or how much does average Czech person know about USA’s economical/political/social etc. situation? Not much. Average German? Also not much. Average Iranian? Not much. Average citizen of Somecountrystan? Not much, if anything at all. Etc.
Why should all these people be allowed to vote about position that -- despite having a big global impact -- has even bigger impact on the US itself? How would you feel if e.g. some random African or Australian had a right to vote in Czech governmental elections?
Also, your propsal has a huge drawback. Most of the world isn’t democratic -- Africa and Asia are mostly leaning towards more authoritarian styles of government. That’s about 5.5 billlion people, give or take. Latin American countries, while somewhat democratic and liberal, are often leaning towards populism. That’s about 0.6 billion of people, give or take some dozens of millions. Europe has roughly 0.6 billion if not counting Russia, but significant number of Europeans are also populistic, far-right, etc.
I know that the acutal math is bit more complicated, but I’d still say that opinions which are non-democratic and/or populistic a/o strongly religious a/o authoritharian etc. would win simply thanks to the sheer number of global voters.
@Gelaos, all of what you say is true, and it does nothing to disprove the core of my argument here. Which is -- US presidents have disproportionate effect on the world outside of USA than vice-versa.
I do say at the end that the idea needs some refinement, and some of what you say would be those refinements. Like for example the fact that a lot of the world is not democratic, or only nominaly democratic, etc.
I am talking about how things should be, you are talking about how thigs are.
@Charly I agree with the sentiment and motivation behind your argument. I do not disagree with you per se regarding the theory, but I disagree with regarding the real-life implementation. I can’t see no sensible, fair or stable way how global POTUS voting could be implemented.
That’s true. But what exactly is the “world outside USA”? How would we define it? How would we measure the USA’s influence? Who would be disqualifed from voting? What criteria would we use to “refine” the system? etc.
And a bit off-topic question: even if we’d come up with an ideal global voting system for POTUS, how would we deal with other influential countries that don’t adhere to democratic principles, e.g. China, Russia?
Personally, my ideal is a sort of global cooperation/relationship framework. It seems to work in some specific cases (e.g. relations between the Nordic countries), but it becomes more problematic on a bigger scale (e.g. EU, UN).
I am aware of the difficulty of real-life implementation. The article is more or less a sigh and a cry of exasperation, not a treatise on how to solve world’s woes.
@Charly Okay. For the most part I also share your sigh.