Thoughts on a Constitution“Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried,” according to Winston Churchill. This is considered an affirmation of democracy, when in fact it should be a challenge to develop a better political system.

That is the challenge I set myself in writing “Thoughts on a Constitution”, using Scotland as a suitable example of a small nation, where discussions about a constitution are taking place as independence becomes a possibility. This slim manifesto begins by proposing an ethical foundation for the constitution.

This would employ the broad concepts originating with the Scottish Moral Sense Philosophers; based primarily on benevolent disinterest and the innate sense of empathy. I attempt to show why representative democracy has failed and why capitalism has also become an outmoded system.

I present an alternative political system with a primarily meritocratic government at the national level to establish competency in government directed towards the commonweal, rather than the pursuit and maintenance of political power. At the regional and local levels, I propose direct democracy, allowing different visions of the “good society” to flourish, while also allowing for incompatible value systems to work themselves out in communities in an empirical search for the good society; an unending pursuit.

This might be considered a form of controlled anarchy. Basically, this constitution dispenses with political parties and politicians at a national level and with private corporations.

Central to my “Thoughts” is a concern over the threat of nuclear war and for our natural ecology (the climate crisis) and social ecology. .