BEST IDEA EVER

[Payne]

High speed retractable/ extendable beard.

[Cain]

Cat penis condolence cards, complete with artifical cat penis.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Cat penis condolence cards, complete with artifical cat penis.

I'd buy that shit. and I hate greeting cards.

[BadBeast]

Randomly picked Governments. Like Jury Duty. Compulsory compliance. Four year terms.(Unless you have a Doctor's note saying you are exempt because of your propensity for megalomania) Take the Politicking out of politics.

[Cramulus]

They had that for a while in Athens--didn't work out. Do you know somebody that absolutely should not hold a public office? In the lottery system, morons have a better chance of getting into office than competent people. (due to a high ratio of morons to competent people)

[BadBeast]

Well, the 'competent' don't seem to have much more of a chance under the present system. And there seems to be a rather high percentage of the corrupt and greedy megalomaniac type getting through. Most of the people I can see that "absolutely should not hold a public office" are either already there, or trying to climb the greasy pole of power by bribing and co-opting the aid of corrupt Corporate brokers. So even if they do get to the top, the favours they owe these Sharks will compromise any integrity they may have set out with. The random element will at least cut these Corporate Pirates out of the equation. I'd rather have a Government made up from normal people who haven't bartered their integrity away during their rise to power, than the present lot of Whores we seem to end up with.

[Scribbly]

So you guys know about micro-pigs, right?

How about micro-bacon!

Like regular bacon, but smaller! Therefore, less calories, cuter, and you can fit it in your pocket!

MICRO-BACON!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

HOLD ME CLOSE TINY BACON

[Triple Zero]

Well, the 'competent' don't seem to have much more of a chance under the present system. And there seems to be a rather high percentage of the corrupt and greedy megalomaniac type getting through. Most of the people I can see that "absolutely should not hold a public office" are either already there, or trying to climb the greasy pole of power by bribing and co-opting the aid of corrupt Corporate brokers. So even if they do get to the top, the favours they owe these Sharks will compromise any integrity they may have set out with. The random element will at least cut these Corporate Pirates out of the equation. I'd rather have a Government made up from normal people who haven't bartered their integrity away during their rise to power, than the present lot of Whores we seem to end up with.

But if you randomly select a moron, chances are pretty big some Corporate Pirate will find a way to buy them.

And even if you happen to pick a smart person, they'd still have to have a spine.

Similarly, the ones with a spine, might not necessarily have the best intentions.

All you do is let loose the system, which just means the one that can abuse the game the best, will win. And they don't have to be lottery-picked to win.

Now I believe that the Athenian government lottery-picked 300 people or so. That could potentially work very well if they'd keep each other in check from being bought out. Of course only if there's some sort of consensus among the general population that this would be a bad thing (which is not necessarily the case in the US, or many places).

Now I wonder, Cram said "that didn't work out", but did Athen really crumble because of their democratic lottery?

Also I remember there were some specific issues with the surrounding farmlands and such, and how they were (or weren't) part of this lottery, I forget how exactly, history's not one of my strong points.


Additionally I was going to reference this, but then I didn't need it, but it's still awesome/interesting, so here it is:
http://www.gandalf.it/stupid/stupid.htm
A bunch of essays on the nature of stupidity. Always a good thing to study!

[AFK]

BAZOOKA BRIEFCASE

That's my American dream.

[Cramulus]

Now I wonder, Cram said "that didn't work out", but did Athen really crumble because of their democratic lottery?

TBH I hadn't read up much about it. Here's the relevant vocab words:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demarchy#Lottocracy

[trix]

High speed retractable/ extendable beard.

Best. Idea. EVAR!

[Richter]

Formal trousers incorporating a Papua New Guinea penis gourd by Armani.

Complimentary break time bungee jumping at any skyscraper office.

Uncomfortable meeting room chairs, Torquemada style, so people get the hell on with it.

[The Wizard Joseph]

A SALADSHOOTER^TM THAT FIRES VEGETABLE PARTICLES AT NEAR RELATIVISTIC SPEED AND NEVER RUNS OUT OF AMMUNITION (NOT JUST FUN, BUT COULD ALSO SOLVE WORLD HUNGER, A FEW DIFFERENT WAYS)

OPEN AUCTIONS INSTEAD OF VOTING AND BACKROOM DEALS FOR CASH (SOLVES MANY PROBLEMS WITH A GREEK MODEL)

A TRULY FRICTIONLESS LUBRICANT THAT NEVER DEGRADES IN ANY WAY NO MATTER HOW THINLY APPLIED (DITTO)

BUILDING MATERIALS WITH ENOUGH PLUTONIUM ALREADY MIXED IN THAT THEY NEVER REACH FREEZING TEMPERATURES AND SNOW FAILS TO ACCUMULATE ON THEM