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DEMOCRACY

                                                       October 15, 1989


Democracy vs. Philospher Kings => Republic                    
                                                              
Democratic Republic                                           
  Problems                                                    
                                                              
    Time/Energy/motivation of Politicians focused on re-election
          (mirrors the difficulty of direct democracy...)     
                                                              
    Politicians change direction once elected. (If we can't judge 
           issues, how do you judge people?)                  
                                                              
    Politicians follow polls, which reflect an uniformed/unconsidered 
           mass of opinion (no advantage in using experts if the experts
           mimic the inexpert).                               
                                                              
    Under-representation of minority opinions.                
                                                              
    "Special Interest" problem.  Some programs benefit a few enormously
           at the slight expense of many.  (Over-representation of 
           minorities!)                                       
                                                              
     Growth of appointed government.  Bureaucracy without check by 
           voters...                                          
                                                              
From the other direction.  Free Assoc some alternate systems. >
                                                             
Draft (like jury selection)                                  
    Random.                                                  
    Random from a "qualified" pool.                          
    Random nomination, followed by election.                 
Tweak the parameters.                                        
    Longer/shorter terms.                                    
    Easier impeachment.                                      
        Electronic Republic: continuous votes of confidence? 
    Run-off elections (eliminate parties)                    
    Tighter qualifications (e.g. standardized tests)         
Electronic Democracy (Direct Polling)                        
    Questions posed by elected representatives *or* by petition, etc.
    Polling restricted to the "qualified".                   
         Concievably, only economists settle economic ques, etc. 
                                                             
Another direction: select general principles to try to follow. 
                                                             
Maximize Freedom                                             
   Open it up: Increase flow of information                  
               Increase power of individuals _over_their_own_lives_

Markets work. 
    Privatize gov. operations... 
    Redirect gov regulation to "fix" markets rather than eliminate
    Establish mock markets 

Choose your own government: 
    Allow tradeoffs between freedom and responsibility ? 

Diversity is good 
    Currently, the feds act to homogenize state gov.  Try the opposite?

Evolution over Revolution
    Experiments should be small scale...
        
People are slimey
        
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