[unglowin]

American democracy is already all but dead. The reason being that lies fuel the decision making process: from campaigning to lobbying.

They claim it’s democracy when elected officials vote on bills that are largely against the interests and desires of even the people that elected those voting representatives.

I think we can recover though.

What we need to do is extend the powers of our justice by jury system.

Bills in congress should be voted on by a panel of jurors conducted by a judge.

The elected officials are there to litigate either for or against, but it is the jury’s ultimate decision.

I rarely think I have anything to offer the word of civics as it seems to me to be motivated in ways antithetical to my own desires in governance, but I truly think this is an idea that will have a very positive effect on the current failures of the American system of democracy.

[ethbr1]

My personal twist, if I were building a system in a first-world country, would be to have a bicameral legislature.

Upper house has 4 year terms with term limits (say, 20 years max) and has professional politicians.

Lower house is elected for 4 year terms by lottery, a portion turning over every year, in the same way as jury duty. Then support them with a strong research civil service (e.g. the CBO).

[unglowin]

I’m into term limit reform, though I think complexity for the sake of complexity just allows more dark corners for corruption to fester.

But how do term limits solve the misinformation and cult of personality that is currently plaguing contemporary American democracy?

The interesting part, for me, of the introduction of juries in bill voting is having to plead the case to the jury rather than their ephemeral status.

This would immediately remove all of the “carve out diplomacy” that is currently used to get bills passed.

Politicians lie by a matter of course, courts have consequences and checks and balances for lies; imperfect, but at least they are there.

[joebob42]

how are the jurors chosen? I'd expect this would be too small a sampling of people to be really representative, and I think it's often easy to confuse jurors who are (by definition) not experts.

Not that I think they system as it is is great, but I'm not sure this helps / doesn't have its own significant failure modes.

[unglowin]

> jurors who are (by definition) not experts.

Untrue, an expert can be a juror but I know what you are trying to say.

The thing is, congress members are rarely experts themselves, but the court system actively encourages expert witness testimony.

[unglowin]

Same way they already are for trial.

I welcome court and jury selection reform.

I am just also advocating for extending where those powers are used.