Equality by lot

I was reading Dan Savage’s blog this morning, and stumbled upon the following posting:

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 4:57 PM

We couldn’t do worse than Rodney Tom, right?

That led me to find the ballot initiative itself. It appears to be real, and was only recently filed with the State of Washington. The description of the initiative on the state website is as follows:

Encourage the legislature to submit an amendment for the state constitution that would replace the legislature with a legislature randomly selected from the eligible voters of the state of Washington

Ballot Title
Initiative Measure No. 1354 concerns the legislature.

This measure would encourage the legislature to pay a law firm to write a constitutional amendment creating a randomly-selected legislature that could deliberate and vote in private, and punishing interference with the legislature.

Ballot Measure Summary
This measure would encourage the legislature to pay a law firm to write a constitutional amendment to create a legislature of at least one hundred members selected at random from eligible voters. Legislators could deliberate and vote in private, and would be paid and provided with lodging, food, security, and medical care. Persons who interfere with legislative actions or the selection of legislators, or who fail to serve if selected, would be subject to punishment.

Full text.

Wonder how far this is going to go? (Kleroterians might wish to visit the comments section on Dan Savage’s blog. The conversations there are usually lively.)

Filed under: Action, Applications, Ballot measures, Initiatives, Proposals, Sortition |