patrick.net

In order to have "good government", you first have to have a concept of what is "good" and what is "bad" as determined by the best interests of some kind of future. How does nature make some things succeed for millions of years and others die off after a flash in the pan?
Too many confuse "government" with "country" and "freedom" with "no government", rather than understanding that it isn't the government who decides what will work or not. Fate does that. Government is a tool we are supposed to use to help us deal with Fate, hopefully in ways that aren't self-destructive.
Government is a System to help us manage our actions, but it is ultimately our collective actions that Fate sees. Fate doesn't care what we believe: only what we actually DO. The constitution deals with many things that government and citizens can and can't do. Laws are written in detail also expanding on these choices.
Too many laws, and the truths get buried. Top-heavy or not, the system must be made to work or replaced with another system. Sometimes the change is done through choices (elections, revolutions), and sometimes just by Fate (famine, environmental changes, expanding wars into neutral countries).
Government is us. We are it. To separate "government" from humanity is folly. We always have some kind of government because we are communicative social animals. If we keep failing at government, it is because we keep doing the same things and don't evolve. No species evolves if it is in a stable environment. Humans created a stagnant environment that is artificial. It consumes resources in massive amounts to maintain a false niche of air conditioned comforts. We will not change as long as we are comfortable with this false idea of stability, until the resources to maintain it run out. Knowing this is coming is little help, as we have several feedback mechanisms to maintain the state of things as they are. Government won't give up its authority, consumers won't give up their comforts, and corporations make profits feeding the desires of both, regardless of the logical result of perpetual growth on a finite world.

Dan8267 says

Good government is possible, but not with humans running the show. Fully automated government ran by software is the way to go.

And who will be the "WatchDog" for those writing the software?

[...]

curious2 says

The Ghost of Steve Jobs,

Speaking of Tyrants.....

Auntiegrav says

We've already got that. It's called "Excel".

Yeah, I'm thinking of something a little more sophisticated than Excel.

curious2 says

The Ghost of Steve Jobs, channeled by Tim Cook. Their new iPhone app, "iGuv," will tell us what to do. Steve will appear in hologram and tell us when to take our daily meds as prescribed, and track our locations, etc. Naturally we will be required to carry iPhones at all times, but don't worry, if you can't afford one, it will be subsidized.

BTW, people who refuse medication on religious grounds may opt for the other new app, "iGod."

Steve Jobs was not Christian, and believed in his eastern holistic method of teas and herbs... it didnt save him. He stilled died! He of all people ignored science. What does that tell you of the man.

canino says

And who will be the "WatchDog" for those writing the software?

No one. Dan is completely unbiased and has all of our best interests at heart! ;-)

justme says

I cannot agree with this. Do you not understand that if we replace the legislature with random sheep then all the sociopath wolves (think lobbyists and donors) will simply surround the sheep and threaten to tear them to pieces unless they do as they are told?

Justme, I gotta disagree. "Jury Duty" Citizens generally didn't want the job to begin with, and they may or may not wish to be re-elected. In addition, they aren't practiced liars and they'll easily get caught if their $39k/year legislative job suddenly allows them the ability to buy a vacation home, a BMW, and a month-long vacation to Monte Carlo.

Elected officials WANT the lobbyists' money.

We won't have an informed public UNTIL the public REALLY suffers, because of the media. The Media practices "Manufactured Consent" in that they only allow a debate to happen in a narrow band of "Acceptable" subject matter. For example, notice that most of our problems can be solved either by "Innovation" or "Tax Cuts/Privatization" - no other ideas can be mentioned, as the people offering them (whether whacky, or reasonable) are not given the microphone nor invited onto the stage.

freak80 says

canino says

And who will be the "WatchDog" for those writing the software?

No one. Dan is completely unbiased and has all of our best interests at heart! ;-)

Everyone. The software should be transparent and the code publicly available.

Transparency is superior to trust. It cannot be corrupted or broken.

thunderlips11 says

The Media practices "Manufactured Consent" in that they only allow a debate to happen in a narrow band of "Acceptable" subject matter.

How else could we get from "homosexual behavior is a psyhological disorder" to "those who question homosexual behavior have a psychological disorder" in only 15 years?

People are sheep. And the "powers that be" know it.

thunderlips11 says

justme says

I cannot agree with this. Do you not understand that if we replace the legislature with random sheep then all the sociopath wolves (think lobbyists and donors) will simply surround the sheep and threaten to tear them to pieces unless they do as they are told?

Justme, I gotta disagree. "Jury Duty" Citizens generally didn't want the job to begin with, and they may or may not wish to be re-elected. In addition, they aren't practiced liars and they'll easily get caught if their $39k/year legislative job suddenly allows them the ability to buy a vacation home, a BMW, and a month-long vacation to Monte Carlo.

Your argument is that random selection of lawmakers should work because random selection of citizens for jury duty generally works pretty well.

BUT people who are on jury duty generally do not get paid by criminals for finding them innocent, nor do they get paid by the proscution to find people guilty.

That is one heck of a big difference. And I think that is why your argument is flawed.

Ruki says

So let me get this straight:

You rip into the proposed system of sortition based on what you THINK will happen but then declare that our current system is definitely failing.

And what are the lobbyists going to do to people who don't need campaign contributions, btw? It is clear you haven't even thought this out.

No, you didn't get it straight. Pointing out that the proposal of random legislator selection is even worse than what we currently have is a completely defensible position to have.

By the way, you seem to think money in the form of "campaign contributions" is the only way to corrupt a legislator. A randomly picked legislator can be corrupted in any number of different ways:

For example, they can be promised a fat job by a private corporation if they vote a certain way. Or they can be threatened with loss of their old job unless they obey. The possibilities for coercion and/or payoffs are endless.

thomaswong.1986 says

What does that tell you of the man.

He was not among the "Sheeple"... He lived and died by his convictions!