Secondly, nation states are idiotic and far too expensive for the (largely illusory) benefits they provide. But world government provides a single point of political failure. I have no idea how to square that circle.

Political decisions should be made at the most local level possible, but no lower.

This means multiple levels of government : local (1000 people maximum in the lowest echelon), municipal, sub-regional, regional, national, european, world. Proportional representation at all levels, everything has to be negotiated, both within the governmental level and with the levels below and above.

Collective decision making by design; no government level has an individual leader, at minimum a duo. This of course won't eliminate the star system completely, but ought to seriously counter-balance it.

It's a very slow-moving system, of course, quite resistant to change, but ought to be fairly responsive to the people over the long term.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}