Move decisions down, resources up the hierarchy.

[Biep]

Decisions should be taken as locally as possible. Democracy doesn't work beyond a certain scale, because the value (expected return) of any individual vote dives way below the cost of voting (including due diligence to vote well). That is why high-ranking entities (people institutions) should have little power - they have no strong democratic mandate.

Resources, on the other hand, should be managed at the highest possible level. Every house having its own operating theatre is inefficient. Small communities may not need more than a local branch of the firefighters, and those from nearby communities will join in when needed. Many units sharing a service centre is typically more cost-efficiënt and incurs less overhead than each unit having its own - but the use of that centre should again be decided locally, in accordance with the first principle.

A national army can be abused, but an army that consists of lots of local tiny units that join when needed - and when given the green light by their local leaders - is much more robust. There may be a pre-approved rule for sudden mobilisation, but that should still be veto-able by the local decision makers, each for their local tiny unit, to avoid abuse.

This is a form of federation. In mainland China, I could and can use Matrix, because it is federated, and therefore hard to suppress - but also because there is no central authority that could make it impossible to use for certain purposes from the inside by censure, by spying, by whatever means. (Maybe it would be good to give a list of resources such as Matrix, that people can use instead of the big powers.