What do you think of the idea of choosing leaders by lottery?

Asked by LostInParadise (32183

) November 2nd, 2020

I sometimes attend meetings given by a local discussion group. This is one of the topics that will be presented. The process is called sortition. Here is a link to short video that advocates it.

The main objection that I have is that being a politician is a legitimate profession requiring training and experience. Randomly selected people would not have the skills required to decide complex issues.

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2 Answers

After watching the video, I like the idea for tackling particular issues with citizen committees. Drawing electoral maps would be a good choice.

I am halfway convinced that it might work for legislatures. I can’t picture it for executive positions like governors and presidents.

Call_Me_Jay (14026

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I think it’s flawed, but not nearly as badly as our existing system of having two giant corrupt corporate-owned parties offer us a choice of who we dislike least of two of the pawns they chose, of which we are only allowed to express one vote of “support” for one, and the country & corporations dump massive amounts of money into the election.

Zaku (30571

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