4 ms·
Lobbyists already have enormous power. I think one thing we've learned over the past 20 years is that career politicians are just as susceptible to bribes as ev
by coltonv 9y ago
Lobbyists already have enormous power. I think one thing we've learned over the past 20 years is that career politicians are just as susceptible to bribes as everyone else.
Though I do agree, this concept is pointless beyond a thought experiment.
- jimmytidey 9y agoUnder sortition individuals would serve a short term before returning to their original role, making them less susceptible to 'revolving door' type bribery and mutual back scratching. It would also make sense to treat them like a jury - while you are working lobbyists would be asked not to meet with you.
- clavalle 9y agoLobbyists /do/ serve a valuable function (theoretically); they offer expert advice. Sequestering the ignorant and expecting good laws to come from that is ... optimistic. And while serving a short term might cut out certain bribery there will be a lot more 'get while the getting is good' type bribery. Perhaps that's easier to catch? But there will be a lot more of it. Not only that: the rest of us have our own stuff to do. How many people can put their life on pause long enough to learn everythhing they need to know to craft good laws?
- visarga 9y agoI think sortition would work better if the legislators would first learn a bit about the issue they are assigned to (assuming the random selection is repeated for each individual law). It could be done as a short course where the instructors would also be selected by random from a pool of experts (people holding degrees in the field). Legislators could be tested to see if they have a grasp of the basic concepts. Only after that, they would deliberate and vote. This would make the process slower, but fortunately it can be parallelized on multiple unrelated issues. Each legislative group could act for a short period and disband.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]