Sortition

cavedave

Would random selection of people to serve in the government be a better system then voting on those who put themselves forward?

The problem with this is that you could end up getting your life run by the stupidest bigot in the country. On the other hand this can happen when you go before a jury trial anyway.

A slightly different system was described by Asimov. Where roughly one person is selected at random and they get to decide who runs the country.

What are your opinions on random selection of those who decide important things about our lives?

AngryHippie

Hard to know. I vote we give it a try:D

Akrasia

This idea is even more ridiculous than the elected representatives system.

We should be pursuing participatory direct democracy as an alternative to corrupt party politics and the corporatist state

cavedave

We should be pursuing participatory direct democracy as an alternative to corrupt party politics and the corporatist state

How would you implement this? A text message poll on key issues? That is not a joke I think it would be kind of cool.

Would you accept a random sample of people? If i remember correctly a group of size n has a margin of error of 1/sqrt(n) of the entire population. Would you set an allowed margin of error and then allow a random poll of n citizens to decide an issue?

Akrasia

Participatory decision making process are more than just saying "here are two options, vote for one of them".

It's about a collaborate approach in policy formation, devolving power to the local level as much as possible, and allowing the public the power to propose laws and recall delegates.

Bottom up, where local canons originate ideas which are then ratified at the higher levels, rather than the top down structures in Ireland, where local government has pretty much zero power and exist at the whim of the central government cabinet


There is a limited form of direct democracy in Switzerland which works very well

cavedave

Switzerland allows women to vote.

Ah ok participatory in the sense of small local groups making decisions. I do think it is interesting that a Sortition at a particular scale is essentially the same as participatory democracy of the same scale.

The_Minister

Akrasia: Boooooooo to mob rule.

OP: Not the best idea in the world.

Akrasia

The_Minister wrote: »

Akrasia: Boooooooo to mob rule.

Beats dictatorship

AngryHippie

Akrasia wrote: »

Participatory decision making process are more than just saying "here are two options, vote for one of them".

It's about a collaborate approach in policy formation, devolving power to the local level as much as possible, and allowing the public the power to propose laws and recall delegates.

Bottom up, where local canons originate ideas which are then ratified at the higher levels, rather than the top down structures in Ireland, where local government has pretty much zero power and exist at the whim of the central government cabinet

The elusive 3rd way, Its a problem of implimentation and verification isn't it ?