an idea I had concerning democracy

[Jasper]

copypasted from Antilibertarianism because it wasn't really OT.

Maybe a mixture of lottery and approval voting would work.

Get a crowd of lottery-picked citizens, say fifty.  Some won't want to campaign.  Keep replacing the unwilling until you have 50 willing candidates.

Give them each a wad of cash and an advisor to help them put together and run a campaign.

Have a partial approval vote where everyone chooses the 25 they want most.

Put them all together and have each of them perform approval votes on each bill.

To enforce non-corruption, they are kept in nice accommodations, taken care of, provided for, and granted a sizable stipend after their term.  Corporate lobbyists must go through the voting public to have their interests advanced. 

I call it "Jesus Christ, what does a fucker have to do for some representation around here?"

[BabylonHoruv]

The problems I see are that this has a similar screening process to our current system, that is charisma and desire for power.  It might create more possibility for poor charismatic power hungry people, as opposed to the filthy rich ones we have now, but I don't know if that would really be an improvement.

Maybe if we could somehow make it more like jury duty.  Drafting random citizens to consider each bill or something.

[Jasper]

Are random citizens picked by lottery likely to be power hungry?  And if they don't actually have the opportunity to make (ETA) extra bank on the job, why would they bother trying?  The idea was partially stolen from Plato, how he wanted politicians who he thought should be well-provided for, but not allowed to pursue material gains.  They are to be treated as purely public servants.  

The screening process is totally different, in that the people who are allowed to campaign didn't ask for the chance, and are freely permitted not to do so, which will naturally make their political stances more sincere since they're not putting on an act simply to become a 'career politician'.

[Doktor Howl]

Pick 700 or so people out of the voter's registration pool, and FORCE them to govern.

House, Senate, president, VP, and SCOTUS, all drafted.  

[Jasper]

Pick 700 or so people out of the voter's registration pool, and FORCE them to govern.

House, Senate, president, VP, and SCOTUS, all drafted. 

My way, they have some incentive to be good.  You get what you pay for.

[Doktor Howl]

Pick 700 or so people out of the voter's registration pool, and FORCE them to govern.

House, Senate, president, VP, and SCOTUS, all drafted. 

My way, they have some incentive to be good.  You get what you pay for.

Wait.  We're trying to improve things?

Then forget what I said.

[Jasper]

I like democracy, I think representation CAN work out well.  As it exists though, it really just perpetuates market rule in favor of short term gains.

[Cramulus]

Everybody thinks they have the solution to fixing the world, practically NONE of them do. I FEAR what my neighbors would do with power if they were they randomly selected by the electoral lottery.

When the Greeks tossed out lottery elections, they developed what would later become Congress. Congress is supposed to be the representative sample of the populace (as opposed to the senate, which is supposed to be the two best and brightest people in the state). Congress is also the least functional part of the US government (except maybe the justice system). Despite congress' brokenness, at least congressmen are competent enough to get elected. If you remove that filter, we'll go from high functioning idiots to low functioning idiots overnight.

[Doktor Howl]

Everybody thinks they have the solution to fixing the world, practically NONE of them do. I FEAR what my neighbors would do with power if they were they randomly selected by the electoral lottery.

When the Greeks tossed out lottery elections, they developed what would later become Congress. Congress is supposed to be the representative sample of the populace (as opposed to the senate, which is supposed to be the two best and brightest people in the state). Congress is also the least functional part of the US government (except maybe the justice system). Despite congress' brokenness, at least congressmen are competent enough to get elected. If you remove that filter, we'll go from high functioning idiots to low functioning idiots overnight.

Yes, but from a purely misanthropic point of view, this idea rocks balls.

Remember, Cram, if the system isn't perfect, we have to scrap it entirely.

ETA:  oddly enough, this is the same reasoning that the conservatards use to justify destroying universal education.

[Jasper]

So put filters on the lottery.  This much education, this few criminal convictions, this level of english fluency.

[Doktor Howl]

So put filters on the lottery.  This much education, this few criminal convictions, this level of english fluency.

But we can get Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld with the current system.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm still rooting for a government that's based on focus groups.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Do YOU want to earn money in your spare time?

[Jasper]

So put filters on the lottery.  This much education, this few criminal convictions, this level of english fluency.

But we can get Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld with the current system.

Another possible filter:  Psychopaths.

[Jasper]

Do YOU want to earn money in your spare time?

:loool:

So how would that work?  Focus groups would craft legislation based on what will market well?