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It is proposed that the Constitution be amended to provide that our current "election" method of selecting our "representatives" be replaced with a lottery/draft method of selection. |
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For the time being, the Marquee Issue page for the LOTTERY/DRAFT issue shall consist of a collection of the excerpts from Daily Messages which refer to the issue. FEBRUARY 1, 1999 Select our representatives by drafting them. Establish a pool of qualified candidates and select representatives by drafting them. I have been advocating this theory for some time, on some occasions using a lottery selection metaphor. (I have increasingly become enamored with the notion of a society walking up to an individual and saying, ok buster/busterette, get your affairs in order, you are going into training and you may be spending the next 4, 6, 8 years doing something else. I really like the notion of that. A lot.) MARCH 19, 1999 Those who have followed the issue closely will know the sentiments resonate with me and perhaps even recall comments about the need for a Constitutional Amendment which would address this issue specifically. For those joining the Daily Message thread mid-stream, the Daily Message for February 1, 1999 proposes replacing the "elective" process for selecting public officials with a draft or lottery selection process as a mechanism for eliminating the sytem which allows powerful interests to control a supposedly democratic society. APRIL 26, 1999 BEST RECEIVED CONCEPT: replacement of the elective system with a lottery/draft selection system; JUNE 29, 1999 And, the crown jewel of the que'd messages: The solution to the fascist element inherent in any "election selection process" form of democratic government is to replace elections with a lottery/draft selection process from a pool of qualified candidates so large that it can not be compromised. The thing that really tickles my funny bone, is the likelihood that Russia would become Democratic before the United States. I can not see ourselves changing our beloved Constitution that radically in anything less than 10 years. All "emerging" democracies, including Russia, can draft a Constitution with a lottery/draft selection process in a heartbeat. Would not the greatest benefit from a lottery/draft selection process be in the dregs, the residue left over? Let's say that the pool size for president is one thousand (1000). Instead of pouring campaign funds down a rat hole, significantly less funds would be used to train candidates and afterwards we would have 999 statesmen left over. Over a period of time, would that not create a very sophisticated society!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MARCH 9, 1999 [money as] a virtual condition of access to the bureauacrcy. MAY 5, 1999 The poor do not have access to government. ... The politically incorrect do not have access to government. ... The elite have access to government. We know [arbitrary] elitism is fascism. MAY 9, 1999 ELECTED politicians act[ing] not on the merit of matters, but rather on that which ensures their political survival. MAY 9, 1999 The privilege we have referred to almost exclusively is that of "ACCESS" to government, and our complaint is really not that they [the "elite"] have access, but rather that in reality they have it exclusively. JULY 19, 1999 A specific charge has been levied in the DMs that our democratic process is seriously flawed because it reserves virtually exclusive access to government to the elite (some using it judiciously, others not). ... At least one member of mainstream media recently, and icily I might add, referred to his being a member of the elite who "had access to government". AUG. 1, 1999 We still have campaign finance problems. AUG. 1, 1999 We still have pols devoting virtually all their time, energy and resources to their own political preservation.
[BODY SHUTDOWN=187 DAYS] [BODYWEIGHT LOSS>24%] [VICTIM'S AGE > 60] [MESSENGER NOT PROBLEM] |
© 1999 PonyTail Institute for Change