[EM] Lincoln; Big money, gerrymanders, rotten EC, etc.

[Forest Simmons]

On Thu, 18 Apr 2002, Adam Tarr wrote:
>
> Later on, Joe writes:
>
> >I despair of easy solution, but one new (for me) tack continues to urge
> >itself:  reduce or eliminate the role of PERMANENT or anyhow
> >PRE-IDENTIFIABLE power centers - parties, bosses, small office-holding
> >elites.  We may thus reduce or eliminate incentives and pathways for
> >big-money infusions and for gerrymanders.

Let's don't forget this goal. If one suggestion or another seems
impractical, let's keep brainstorming!

> >One part of the overall mechanism would be to reduce the role of usual
> >elections altogether - at least for choosing office-holders as vs resolving
> >issues.  Maybe choose legislatures as we choose juries - by lot from voter
> >rolls - or anyhow choose candidates by lot, followed by speedy PAV election.
> >  Maybe also fill by lot executive and judicial positions, or anyhow thus
> >get candidates (with speedy election by AV), from among those who pass
> >suitable qualifying exams. (Yes, OK, unavoidably maybe, there might well be
> >some litigations as to which proposed exams were truly suitable.)  Make
> >terms just long enough to enable necessary business to get done.
>
> Issues like these are where electoral reform starts to blend into politics, so I
> don't want to get into a protracted debate on these issues over the list.  But I
> do want to point out that legislation is a far more involved process than jury
> duty, and it would be a pretty significant strain on society if you forced
> people of all walks of life into periodic legislative duty.

The part of me that is Libertarian perks up when I see the words "far more
involved process" describing legislative duties.  In my opinion the reason
the process has become so involved is through the shenanigans and mischief
of professional politicians in the service of non-democratic
concentrations of power, which is exactly what we are trying to get away
from.

I don't expect this idea to fly in the near future, especially not at the
national level, but it is always useful to keep the ideal in mind when
searching for something that will fly.

Forest

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