Today is the next in a series of posts on how to make our
democracy work better based on an article in The Intelligent Optimist magazine
(formerly Ode) by Tom Atlee.
“All of this does not add up to an environment that supports
integrity, authenticity, openness and unfortunately, wisdom. Two strategies can
help disrupt these dynamics: random selection and limited time in office.
“If decision makers are randomly selected and therefore
unpredictable, neither they nor special interests can prepare to manipulate
their power for personal of partisan gain. The lobbyists don’t know ahead of
time whom to lobby. And then, when
decision makers are in power, their brevity in office gives less time for them
to be lobbied and for the competitive pressures of politics and the dynamics of
elite culture to erode their personalities and principles.
“Putting these two strategies together creates a new
possibility for all citizens in a democracy: to delegate some of their
decision-making power to temporary panels of randomly selected ordinary
citizens. They are like juries, but they deal with public issues and policies
instead of crimes and personal injuries.
They can be plugged into the existing political system in various ways.”
No comments:
Post a Comment