government

TRX
February 9, 2013
139:
@5:
Pick eligble citizens to parliament using a scientifically backed randomized method.
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I've been advocating that semi-seriously for a couple of decades now. Pick a [whatever citizen ID number your country uses] via the Powerball Lottery method; your number comes up, you take the next available political office.

Objectors often say, "what if incompetent or evil people were then put into office?"

My usual reply is, "how could we tell?"

TRX
February 9, 2013
140:
I'd like to toss Joan D. Vinge's "Outcasts of the Heaven Belt" into the mix. Written in 1982, one of its background threads was the operation of a truly democratic society, implemented via a real-time, high-bandwidth computerized information and voting system. Voting was done pretty much continuously, on anything and everything, with the process also serving as news and entertainment for its participants.

Since it was secondary to the story Vinge didn't develop it extensively, but the first thought that came to my mind was, "Exactly how much democracy do I want, anyway?"

Politicans and functionaries would need some level of "empowerment" to avoid clogging the system with trivia; I don't necessarily want to have to make an informed vote on whether Animal Control needs new equipment, or parsing a 5,000 page bill on financing a foreign war... what I want is a way to empower people whose informed opinions would agree with mine, if I cared enough to form an opinion.

TRX
February 9, 2013
142:
@70:
Dosadi... movie
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I'd wondered that about "Whipping Star," and spent some time writing my version of a screenplay for it some years ago. With modern CGI and/or animatronics it wouldn't be difficult to film the events.

The main problem I ran into was that the backstory wasn't really amenable to conversion to dialog. That led to the same problem as the movie of "Dune." The "movie experience" of those who had read the book(s) vs. someone who only saw the movie would be much different. There was just way too much backstory to fit into a film that long. Fortunately, few viewers seem to expect a movie to actually make sense, so it didn't matter.

TRX
February 9, 2013
144:
@103:
Thought experiment: would you advocate term limits for jobs other than "politician"?
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The size of the legislature is fixed or regulated by statute, and there's generally only one chief executive.

You can choose your MD of plumber from a large pool, but you're stuck with what other people think you need for a Minister of Roads or a President. You don't get a personal choice until you have the opportunity to vote for someone else... and you might not get your choice.

TRX
February 10, 2013
245:
@178:
It's not disingenuous at all. How are the parties going to stop someone from voting for who they want? When someone gets into the voting booth, the parties can't control who they vote for.
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Each state has its own voting regulations. In my state, each county has its own regulations. My county used to have big cardboard ballots and felt-tip markers; you went into a curtained booth, marked your ballot, and stuffed it into a slot in a box on the way out - it was a secret ballot. If there was a question about the count, the ballots were trucked to the local school, where blue-haired old ladies spread them out on cafeteria tables and recounted them, out in the open for all to see. As a former computer security wonk, I thoroughly supported the system.

In 2008 the county electoral commission went to electronic voting machines. These are suitcase-sized boxes supported on easels, with touchscreen displays. You present your voter registration card to the clerk, who then programs a "module". An election official walks with you to the voting machine. He or she stands behind you, watching the screen, to "help" you if needed. When you're done, he official walks the "module" back to the clerk, who plugs it back into her laptop. You don't get a receipt, nor is there any apparent paper tape made in the voting machine.

Secret ballot? Really?

I'm going to skip over my lack of trust in the whole "electronic voting machine" system, both in general and at the local level.

I make no secret of my political affiliation and who (or what, in the case of bills) I vote for, but with the "secret" part of the ballot gone, I can see how others might be pressured into voting against their preferences.

TRX
February 10, 2013
246:
@237:
Actually, here's a simple problem with the random method:
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The purpose of a random method isn't to achieve good government - for whatever values of "good" you may prefer.

Its purpose is to obtain a true representation of the population, not to ensure competence or affability.

If your population is composed of idiots, that's what you'll get.