![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
New way to elect representatives...
May. 4th, 2005 04:53 amOK, this is the reason I couldn't get back to sleep. An interesting dream woke me up, and got me thinking.
So, right now, this is partially late night rambling, and partially serious proposal, thrown out for the Live Journal blogosphere.
Serving by lottery. Basically, keep same eligibility, term limits, pay, etc. as are in place now, but treat it as Jury Duty is now. put ALL eligible voters in a pool, and select representatives from them randomly. When the term is up, the vote is for whether Person A did a good job or not. If the vote is >50% against them, the randomizer is used again, and the next person is chosen.
Obviously, a lot would need to be changed in current system to make this work. But truly, it isn't all that different from current system, except that it throws the pool open to everyone, rather than career politicians (yes, I know that not ALL politicians are true career politicos, but a lot are.) After all, how many of us truly know enough about all our currently elected representatives to make voting truly nonrandom? (How many people voted in the last presidential election? How many voted in the last NON presidential election?)
It would probably need to be tested out in a single state first, but isn't that what the states are partly for anyway, to test out ideas like this to see if they are workable?
Possible refinements:
Stepping stones? the more local offices are truly randomized among eligible voters. (City and county) For State level offices, draw from pool of ppl. who have served at city or county level. For Federal level offices, ppl. who have served at state level.
Governor (eventually President) I'm wondering if these should be fully randomized among eligible voters, or limit to ppl. who have served at lower levels?
«chuckles» you know, I don't really like the idea of a Federal ID. (At least, not the one currently being discussed in Washington DC) For one thing, something this big should be in it's OWN bill, not bundled in with other totally unrelated things. (from what I hear, it's in a military budget bill. Of course, that's also how the Washington DC baseball stadium was approved, I think. Stuck in a military spending bill.)
But anyway, if current Congress passes Federal ID, my idea would be the PERFECT use for it. :)
I think this would lead to a much more centered legislative branch, rather than what seems to be an ever more polarized country.
The dream that woke me up? I was selected President. Jos was the First Husband. «G»
My subconscious pulled this out from old issues of Legion of Super-Heros from DC Comics. President of Earth was chosen by lottery.
*yawns* ok. I think I've tired myself out enough to get back to sleep.
Lets see if I get any comments on this by the time I wake up, again.
So, right now, this is partially late night rambling, and partially serious proposal, thrown out for the Live Journal blogosphere.
Serving by lottery. Basically, keep same eligibility, term limits, pay, etc. as are in place now, but treat it as Jury Duty is now. put ALL eligible voters in a pool, and select representatives from them randomly. When the term is up, the vote is for whether Person A did a good job or not. If the vote is >50% against them, the randomizer is used again, and the next person is chosen.
Obviously, a lot would need to be changed in current system to make this work. But truly, it isn't all that different from current system, except that it throws the pool open to everyone, rather than career politicians (yes, I know that not ALL politicians are true career politicos, but a lot are.) After all, how many of us truly know enough about all our currently elected representatives to make voting truly nonrandom? (How many people voted in the last presidential election? How many voted in the last NON presidential election?)
It would probably need to be tested out in a single state first, but isn't that what the states are partly for anyway, to test out ideas like this to see if they are workable?
Possible refinements:
Stepping stones? the more local offices are truly randomized among eligible voters. (City and county) For State level offices, draw from pool of ppl. who have served at city or county level. For Federal level offices, ppl. who have served at state level.
Governor (eventually President) I'm wondering if these should be fully randomized among eligible voters, or limit to ppl. who have served at lower levels?
«chuckles» you know, I don't really like the idea of a Federal ID. (At least, not the one currently being discussed in Washington DC) For one thing, something this big should be in it's OWN bill, not bundled in with other totally unrelated things. (from what I hear, it's in a military budget bill. Of course, that's also how the Washington DC baseball stadium was approved, I think. Stuck in a military spending bill.)
But anyway, if current Congress passes Federal ID, my idea would be the PERFECT use for it. :)
I think this would lead to a much more centered legislative branch, rather than what seems to be an ever more polarized country.
The dream that woke me up? I was selected President. Jos was the First Husband. «G»
My subconscious pulled this out from old issues of Legion of Super-Heros from DC Comics. President of Earth was chosen by lottery.
*yawns* ok. I think I've tired myself out enough to get back to sleep.
Lets see if I get any comments on this by the time I wake up, again.
