Reimagining the USA Under SERAA

This section is not intended to critique current political systems, but to imagine what a choice-preservation society could look like, using a large nation like the US as a case study. With its microcosms of culture and regional variants, it provides a pluralistic example of how society could function. This will have many parallels to the AI governance structure, but with its unique characteristics. This section reimagines how current systems could be adapted to reflect a commitment to preserving agentic capacity.

For the uninformed, the key components and reasoning behind the current political structure of the United States of America are rooted in the belief in checks and balances, where no portion of the government has more power than any other. However, with political ideology not as diverse as the nation's population, the political and societal structure has become skewed, and the checks and balances are now largely obsolete. In theory, checks and balances are essential, but are not currently reflective of society's needs.

When looking at US voting trends, maps like the one above do not paint the political diversity of our federal government, as typically, candidates from a supported PAC (Political Action Committee) are usually elected (Democratic or Republican). However, there are independents and other 'third-party' candidates in the Senate and House of Representatives; however, this is not present in the Executive and Judicial branches. 

Currently, no political party that governs 100% represents the views of the people on political and social issues. Yet, every citizen is siloed into one of the three camps (Democratic, Independent, Republican). While there are smaller and independent political views within each camp, most of the differences are diluted over time to conform to the collective political image of the camp. Democrats attempt to rein in Progressives and Democratic Socialists, and the GOP does the same with the Tea Partiers and Libertarians. 

Since the 1970s, religion has become increasingly prominent in politics, notwithstanding the use of religion to enslave Africans and Blacks, as well as the use of religion to limit citizenship to whites and land-owning males only. The Moral Majority began pushing agendas under President Ronald Reagan and influencing the GOP. After its dissolution, its work continued through the Heritage Foundation and other political groups to this day. MAGA (Make America Great Again), led by Trump, has been using religion to dictate policies that adhere to perceived religious values despite political, ideological, and social differences in values across the board. This has led right-wing politicians to violate state and federal policies that have been voted on to push policies that are rooted in personal religious values, not the people's voice. Women's bodily autonomy laws that were once voted in are now being revoked, protections for minorities are being revoked, and safety nets for at-risk groups (those with disabilities and the houseless population, as well as immigrants and children) are disappearing. Though the Moral Majority no longer exists by that name since 1988, the same political and religious fervour is present in today's GOP. 

Using this map, see the 2020 census results of religious diversity in the United States from the US Religious Census. 

This is problematic, as these religious populations have differing moral values and moral systems without representation or having to sacrifice their representation for the sake of political unity. Not only are these, but also the differing political and ethical ideologies that exist, are underrepresented in today's governance systems worldwide.