3 ms·

My suggestion is enough out of the box that many people will think I'm being sarcastic, but I'm not. This is a great idea. I think we should give out House se

My suggestion is enough out of the box that many people will think I'm being sarcastic, but I'm not. This is a great idea. I think we should give out House seats to other groups who have been historically disadvantaged. Maybe we could have a few House members that only blacks get to vote for. It might be harder to identify LGBT people, but they could get one too as far as I'm concerned. It could be time limited, like maybe for 50 years or something. But it could fit under the reparations umbrella in a way that might be more tasteful to voters than just cutting a check to people.

tathougies 7y ago
Yes please! Open one up for us Catholics, and another one for us minority Catholics who face double discrimination! And one for the Muslims too!
- tengbretson 7y ago
  Don't forget left-handed people!
- Jtsummers 7y ago
  This could conceivably be done by creating a notion of special-interest delegates. The groups they represent could register, be voted on by the people (general election). If they received a sufficient vote (10-20%?) then they'd exist for some period of time (10-20 years?). People could then register with the special-interest groups of their choice (perhaps a limited number, with a minimum period of membership to avoid people attempting to spoil elections, they'd have to choose to join groups they cared about or groups they wished to spoil, but have a hard time doing both). Delegates would be nominated by various participants within the special-interest group. Consider that, a labor delegate, could be nominated by various unions, as an example. Or in your Catholic example, the Knights of Columbus and the Franciscan Order. Delegates would be a sort of elected lobbyist, but instead of operating behind closed doors (so much), they'd have to layout their position in campaigns before being elected to such a position. I'm not sure this'd be a good idea overall, it has a lot of downsides that I don't have time to describe as I'm about to head out the door. But there's some merit to the concept.
  - tathougies 7y ago
    Oh if it wasn't clear, I was being facetious. This is an awful idea. All the groups mentioned above already have a legal, constitutional right to redress the government, being groups composed of individual citizens. Lobbyists, paid or not, elected or not, do not deserve floor time in Congress. They currently do not enjoy this privilege, thank goodness.
  - DenisM 7y ago
    Oh, they have those in Europe, they are called "political parties". Some countries have lots of different parties, like "Pirate Party", for example. Generally you can have a political party for any which cause you want, and then vote for the candidate that the party has nominated.
kej 7y ago
You kind of get this "for free" with some forms of proportional representation. If any group (geographic, ethnic, religious, whatever) feels unrepresented, there is an opportunity for a party to win seats representing that group's interests.
maxlybbert 7y ago
In “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” one of the main characters tries to slow down the process of writing a constitution by giving the delegates too many choices. He starts by disparaging the most normal way of giving out representatives, with a statement along the lines of “surely where a man lives is the least interesting thing about him.” He then suggests, for instance, that trade unions be allowed to choose representatives. I don’t think it’s actually workable, but I have to admit that Heinlein has a point: if you ask me to say something about myself, I never start with “I live in X neighborhood.” Why is my House district based on where I live instead of something more relevant? The answer, of course, is that geographic representation is easy to understand and administer. But it also influences the kind of proposals my representative is willing to support or oppose. There are plenty of issues that I care about but my neighbors don’t, and my representative has no incentive to take a stand on those things.
trhway 7y ago
what you suggest is probably close to the party based voting/elections/representation in Europe countries. Whenever there is a significant interest group they could/would form a party, like Pirate Party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_(Sweden) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_(Sweden) or Green Party for example while the majority of people is just covered by the typical couple of the Pepsi/Coca parties.

tathougies 7y ago

Yes please! Open one up for us Catholics, and another one for us minority Catholics who face double discrimination! And one for the Muslims too!

tengbretson 7y ago
Don't forget left-handed people!
Jtsummers 7y ago
This could conceivably be done by creating a notion of special-interest delegates. The groups they represent could register, be voted on by the people (general election). If they received a sufficient vote (10-20%?) then they'd exist for some period of time (10-20 years?). People could then register with the special-interest groups of their choice (perhaps a limited number, with a minimum period of membership to avoid people attempting to spoil elections, they'd have to choose to join groups they cared about or groups they wished to spoil, but have a hard time doing both). Delegates would be nominated by various participants within the special-interest group. Consider that, a labor delegate, could be nominated by various unions, as an example. Or in your Catholic example, the Knights of Columbus and the Franciscan Order. Delegates would be a sort of elected lobbyist, but instead of operating behind closed doors (so much), they'd have to layout their position in campaigns before being elected to such a position. I'm not sure this'd be a good idea overall, it has a lot of downsides that I don't have time to describe as I'm about to head out the door. But there's some merit to the concept.
- tathougies 7y ago
  Oh if it wasn't clear, I was being facetious. This is an awful idea. All the groups mentioned above already have a legal, constitutional right to redress the government, being groups composed of individual citizens. Lobbyists, paid or not, elected or not, do not deserve floor time in Congress. They currently do not enjoy this privilege, thank goodness.
- DenisM 7y ago
  Oh, they have those in Europe, they are called "political parties". Some countries have lots of different parties, like "Pirate Party", for example. Generally you can have a political party for any which cause you want, and then vote for the candidate that the party has nominated.

kej 7y ago

You kind of get this "for free" with some forms of proportional representation. If any group (geographic, ethnic, religious, whatever) feels unrepresented, there is an opportunity for a party to win seats representing that group's interests.

maxlybbert 7y ago

In “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” one of the main characters tries to slow down the process of writing a constitution by giving the delegates too many choices. He starts by disparaging the most normal way of giving out representatives, with a statement along the lines of “surely where a man lives is the least interesting thing about him.” He then suggests, for instance, that trade unions be allowed to choose representatives. I don’t think it’s actually workable, but I have to admit that Heinlein has a point: if you ask me to say something about myself, I never start with “I live in X neighborhood.” Why is my House district based on where I live instead of something more relevant? The answer, of course, is that geographic representation is easy to understand and administer. But it also influences the kind of proposals my representative is willing to support or oppose. There are plenty of issues that I care about but my neighbors don’t, and my representative has no incentive to take a stand on those things.

trhway 7y ago

what you suggest is probably close to the party based voting/elections/representation in Europe countries. Whenever there is a significant interest group they could/would form a party, like Pirate Party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_(Sweden) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_(Sweden) or Green Party for example while the majority of people is just covered by the typical couple of the Pepsi/Coca parties.