© John R. Ewbank 
 
Within many provinces and nations, the use of “election districts” having geographical boundaries has been standard. However, in a World Parliament, any “election district” other than a nation might create tremendous problems, both as regards ratification and in ongoing disputes in future decades. In seeking “practical federalism” a concept of “zero voting districts” seems appropriate. Each Delegate except national Delegates can be deemed to be chosen primarily to discern wisdom, and not to represent ANY constituency other than intelligent life.
 
Generic federalism might be promoted by treating all proposals as merely “illustrative examples”. This permits “open-minded” evaluation of scores of alternatives. This assumes that eventually a “yet-to-be-invented “ proposal might permit the “eruption” of a global federation. Such a concept can be shared by many who aspire to “scuttle the politicians.”
 
Many can recognize the extreme vagueness of the narrow platform of encouraging reluctant acceptance of whatever Proposal for a Global Constitution can win the voluntary ratification by nations aggregating the overwhelming clout of the world. Many can endorse the practical usefulness of such a standard notwithstanding its vagueness. 
 
If there are to be delegates from nations, it is important that they be truly legislators and not diplomats speaking for the Head of State. Hence, a National Delegate should normally serve for a single term of an explicit number of years, such as ten. Initially the two Delegates for the Chamber of Nations might be selected by a panel of from 5 to 15 retired justices selected by lottery from a Roster of all retired judges from local, provincial, national, etc. courts. The staggered terms initially could modulate the turmoil arising from replacement of a pair of national delegates. The inertia of politics is such that both a conservative and a liberal Delegate would represent each of several nations. When death, resignation, ouster, etc. necessitate part-term appointments, the same type of panel of retired judges could make the appointment. If such a Chamber of Nations adequately appealed to the fairness of enough people, including establishments, politicians, mass media, etc, then it might be among the “gimmicks” for a ratifiable proposal. Generic world federalists seek whatever aggregation of gimmicks can stimulate the desired voluntary ratifiability of a proposal. 
 
A world parliament might be more readily ratified if it were multi-chambered, with most of the “weighted voting” involving the relationships among the chambers. Some analysts might seek to estimate the relative probabilities about future results, as might be easier if the “weighting” concerns the interrelationships among the chambers.
 
One chamber might consist of those affluent individuals having some appropriate minimum net worth such as $10,000,000 who voluntarily agreed to pay the costs for a protected internet communication system analogous to the Swift network for the transfer of funds among banks. Many qualified financially might not participate, but the availability of such privilege might enhance ratifiability. Such Delegates would need to be within the 18 to 85 age range, and to have passed global knowledge tests resembling the widely used high school equivalency examinations. 
 
Another Chamber might have essentially the same rules, but be available only to those having a net worth between $1,000,000 and $9,999,999.99. 
 
One chamber might be for all alert humans past age 150, an age believed never previously attained. The Global Federation could pay the costs for the restricted communication network for all who qualified. 
                                         
Another chamber might consist of all individuals of the age 100-149 who volunteered to devote at least 40 hours per year to legislative matters and who paid for the shielded internet communication. Any such “cyber-chamber” in which the Delegates remained at home and participated as legislators at home via the secure network, might significantly ignore much routine matters but assert voting privileges concerning burning issues such as amendments to the constitution.
 
The Elders Chamber would be among the most important. A roster would be maintained of all humans within the 85-99 age range. One university would determine the randomness method, such as lottery, and another university might apply the lottery to the Roster to identify each “candidate”. Pure luck would be involved in becoming a candidate, so that it would not in any way be prestigious. If an elder were notified of his/her luck in being a candidate, no response could be made until during the period from 48 to 72 hours. Hence all participants in the Elders Chamber would be “volunteers” for such awesome responsibilities. 
 
Within the Elders Chamber, and possibly in some other chambers designed to function as “deliberative” bodies, extremely high ethical standards of minimizing bribery, “log-rolling” and related “legislative abuses” would be essential. How many copies of books had been sold would be substantially irrelevant because each Delegate would be evaluated on the basis of their wise discernment, and not mass media publicity.
 
Each chamber of the parliament might be essentially “hidden” from mass media, except as each chamber had its own “weekly report” each Wednesday. Disentangling mass media from the operations of the global parliament is among the most difficult aspects of global governance. This exemplifies desiderata for some new parliament that is essentially unattainable in any established legislative body.
      
Similar Rosters and lotteries could provide the 15 to 100 Delegates for each chamber. Possibly there might be chambers based upon age, such as youth for age 15-30, and young adults age 30-50, and older adults 50-85, with emphasis upon each delegate representing all intelligent life, and not the Roster from which they happened to be selected. For global government purposes, age might be based on the calendar year age instead of recognizing parts of a year. 
 
All efforts at formulating an appropriate conglomeration of chambers would be aimed both at stimulating ratifiability and at long term practical management through the decades and centuries. If a Proposal appealed sufficiently to the “intuitive sense of fairness” of many at the “grass roots” then it might be ratifiable.
 
Hundreds of proposals for a global constitution have been prepared by the experts, who have essentially now forfeited their opportunities because of their conspicuous goofing. Eventually some amateurs are likely to invent some gimmicks that can have sufficient appeal for the voluntary ratifiability by nations.
 
Some earlier world federalists goofed by imagining that the time for the launching of a supra-national federation could be predicted. In the 21st century, generic federalists can expect the Supra-National Federation to “erupt” with predominant “unexpectedness”. To the extent that large numbers at the grass roots feel that they are “participants” instead of feeling that they are “futile citizen lobbyists” as they have been so long as politicians are the puppets manipulated by anonymous establishments, then willingness to devote time to world federalism might be stimulated.