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360 points namlem | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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retrac ◴[] No.44562032[source]
The technical term is sortition. And it is my pet unorthodox political position. The legislature should be replaced with an assembly of citizens picked by lottery.
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gameman144 ◴[] No.44562101[source]
This may show that I'm biased, but the idea of a randomized group of citizens making the law of the land scares the heck out of me. There is a non-trivial amount of nuance and compromise that goes in lawmaking.

Now, the idea of electing a few thousand representatives and having sortition determine who is actually selected is something I could feasibly get behind.

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woooooo ◴[] No.44562350[source]
> There is a non-trivial amount of nuance and compromise that goes in lawmaking.

We just passed that "big beautiful bill" and it was quite clear nobody knew or cared what was in it, beyond it being "trump's bill he wants". I'm guessing staffers and lobbyists had a far more detailed understanding of their portions than any elected official did.

It's a reasonable guess that 100 randos would actually write a better bill.

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esafak ◴[] No.44562474{3}[source]
But the status quo is considered anomalous by most of the world, so I would not use it as a benchmark.
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1. AnimalMuppet ◴[] No.44562942{4}[source]
Well, it's our benchmark, because it's our status quo. That is, you measure any proposed change for here against the way it currently works here, not the way it works in country X.
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2. esafak ◴[] No.44563671[source]
It is anomalous in the historical context of the same country.
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3. sdenton4 ◴[] No.44565149[source]
Otoh, the degradation of democracy into oligarchy and then tyranny was called by Socrates...