Instead of elections, let’s use lotteries

Posted by Poplicola 9 years, 11 months ago to Politics
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This Utopian Statist piece comes with the minor caveat that: "No pure lottocratic system has ever existed, and so it’s important to note that much could go wrong. Randomly chosen representatives could prove to be incompetent or easily bewildered. Maybe a few people would dominate the discussions. Maybe the experts brought in to inform the policymaking would all be bought off and would convince us to buy the same corporate-sponsored policy we’re currently getting. There are hard design questions about how such a legislative system would interact with other branches of government, and questions about the coherence of policymaking, budgeting, taxation, and enforcement of policy."

It looks like the author's hope is that randomly chosen representatives would have the courage to adopt radical anti-business policies to tackle issues like "climate change".


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  • Posted by tkstone 9 years, 11 months ago
    Randomness tends to support the status quo. If we were already operating under a freer system, I might say do it, but we need such dramatic change that it would not help. Nor do I think it would cause the change the author is looking for. Change would be very slow. Big numbers and randomness are stubborn.
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  • Posted by bsmith51 9 years, 11 months ago
    Further, as I suggested in a 1980 letter to the editor in San Diego, since the lottery represents a tax on the stupidity of people buying lotto tickets, all governments at all levels should be exclusively and solely funded by lotteries. For those who think this a radical idea, consider that governments would naturally grow or shrink according to the general stupidity of the populace, which would not be a significant departure from present. Isn't it time to stop soaking the rich and for the stupid to pay their fair share?
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years, 11 months ago
    On one hand I like the idea of states power. On the other hand, I hate that my vote has no value in MA, and prefer a popular vote for president, and am not a fan of the two party system.
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  • Posted by MinorLiberator 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Unfortunately, I can't disagree on the honesty issue. Sometimes there's a tendency to want to throw up your hands an say: "Anything would be better than this..."...maybe a lottery?

    As you say, though, "but still"...with today's educational system and so many people still (even though they say they don't) trusting the mainstream media, I think even with a so-called "random" system, we'd most likely wind up worse off.
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  • Posted by MinorLiberator 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks, Mama. I think you saved us all some time.

    This guy sounds really desperate...the odds of this actually working in any reasonable way would be...well. like winning the lottery...;-)
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  • Posted by Mamaemma 9 years, 11 months ago
    I'm sorry. I stopped reading when the author said "the steady warming planet".
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