Values are the corner stone of any democratic system and so it is with the new Consensual Presidential Democracy proposed further on in this section. They have been proposed on the basis of the existing value systems, embedded in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights or in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. If you want a dose of optimism about Humanity then this section deserves your special attention. This is the area, where Humanity from the point of its survival as a species, has perhaps made even a greater relative progress in the last 200 years than in technology, including the industrial revolution. Yet, even that progress is not good enough to help humans fight existential risks. Therefore, we must do more in two areas:
- Extending the scope of values that are universal
- Extending the depth and spread of those values across the globe
The core values of the EU are included in the Lisbon Treaty in Article 2:
“The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.” (Lisbon_Treaty, 2008). Read more about it here.