4 ms·

By case: (1.A) Yes. As I said in another comment, though, it turns out that in the limited research that's been done, the average person is somewhat better at

By case: (1.A) Yes. As I said in another comment, though, it turns out that in the limited research that's been done, the average person is somewhat better at doing the job than the average career politician. The argument is that the sort of person who wants to be a career-politician is uniquely unsuited to actually running a government. (1.B) The civil servants should be randomly rotated. (2) There's normally a mechanism to preselect a pool of applicants. Universal sortition is interesting, but has drawbacks. I am drawn to a nomination mechanism: you have to get enough (unique) nominations before you're allowed in the sortition pool.

merely-unlikely 4y ago
Could start by rotating the members of Congressional committees. Effectively making Congress the pool.
- pirate787 4y ago
  This is a major reform, as the politicians who are captured by various interests have STRONG incentives to join that Committee. For example, look at the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee -- there's only two Senators from states east of the Mississippi River, and one is West Virginia (a major energy provider as well). An elected official requesting a spot on the committee from an energy consuming state will have a very hard time. https://www.energy.senate.gov/members https://www.energy.senate.gov/members The Republican party is somewhat better than the Democrats on this-- Committee reform was a major plank of the 1994 Contract With America and the GOP still has term limits for Committee Chairmen. https://about.bgov.com/news/frustrated-democrats-mount-push-for-committee-chair-term-limits/ https://about.bgov.com/news/frustrated-democrats-mount-push-...
ghaff 4y ago
It probably somewhat depends on the level. I don't really expect random state reps or other local elected officials have any particular qualifications. They certainly aren't paid as if they did. In some states, such are basically part-time jobs. I do think it's a job a fair number of people would hate.
- Retric 4y ago
  Low pay at the state/local level basically guarantees some level of corruption as the pool of applicants gets very tight when you combine small districts with minimum wealth requirements. How much that’s a feature or a bug is debatable.
yamtaddle 4y ago
> (1.B) The civil servants should be randomly rotated. Institutional knowledge in civil service is the only reason our government functions even as well as it does. I'm not sure that's a great idea. Also, it's a job like any other, and the more unpleasant you make it, the more workers with options will leave. And the workers with options will tend to be your best ones.

merely-unlikely 4y ago

Could start by rotating the members of Congressional committees. Effectively making Congress the pool.

pirate787 4y ago
This is a major reform, as the politicians who are captured by various interests have STRONG incentives to join that Committee. For example, look at the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee -- there's only two Senators from states east of the Mississippi River, and one is West Virginia (a major energy provider as well). An elected official requesting a spot on the committee from an energy consuming state will have a very hard time. https://www.energy.senate.gov/members https://www.energy.senate.gov/members The Republican party is somewhat better than the Democrats on this-- Committee reform was a major plank of the 1994 Contract With America and the GOP still has term limits for Committee Chairmen. https://about.bgov.com/news/frustrated-democrats-mount-push-for-committee-chair-term-limits/ https://about.bgov.com/news/frustrated-democrats-mount-push-...

ghaff 4y ago

It probably somewhat depends on the level. I don't really expect random state reps or other local elected officials have any particular qualifications. They certainly aren't paid as if they did. In some states, such are basically part-time jobs. I do think it's a job a fair number of people would hate.

Retric 4y ago
Low pay at the state/local level basically guarantees some level of corruption as the pool of applicants gets very tight when you combine small districts with minimum wealth requirements. How much that’s a feature or a bug is debatable.

yamtaddle 4y ago

> (1.B) The civil servants should be randomly rotated. Institutional knowledge in civil service is the only reason our government functions even as well as it does. I'm not sure that's a great idea. Also, it's a job like any other, and the more unpleasant you make it, the more workers with options will leave. And the workers with options will tend to be your best ones.