Channelknight Fadran

We should implement the Boule.

Fadran, what the heck is that?

The Athenian Council of 500, of course.

...Yes. And that is?

*Ahem*

Oh gods -

Athens was among the first societies to use a democratic structure for their government. It was early and flawed, of course (i.e. only men could vote/hold power), but a number of their systems still hold up today. For example:

The Ekklesia: Athens was a city-state, so most of the people were condensed within the walls of the city. To make decisions about war stuff and electing magistrates, any citizen* could just show up to where everyone was meeting a cast a vote.

That system is literally just an election: we all know how those work. Show up and get a say. We've basically kept and repurposed that system for modern-day things (such as the fact that - gasp - women and black people are human beings too).

They also had:

A Jury System: Also pretty simple! When someone did a naughty, the city would randomly select one hundred people to act as the jury. The defendant would state their case (there weren't any attourneys back then) and the jurors would all vote either to condemn or to free.

Also how our jury system works nowadays, though with several noticeable differences (only twelve people serving as jurors, legal requirement for a lawyer, etc.)

Nice, nice. Can you explain what this Boule thing is now?

The Boule consisted of five hundred citizens serving a one-year term, who each had one vote in day-to-day issues and decisions. There were fifty citizens from each of Athens' ten tribes, who would determine the agendas to pass by the Ekklesia in addition to investigating officials and even other council members. Eventually the members were even paid for their service in order to expand the powers to the poorer classes.

But what makes this system so unique is that every single member was selected at random.

Dear gosh, that sounds like a terrible idea. And you want to bring it back?

Just think about it for a second! I know I'm probably not supposed to talk much about politics here, but I think I speak for all of us when I say our current government is a complete mess on both and all sides. The design to allow people to change their circumstances by work and perseverance has ultimately backfired, giving power only to people who can afford to spend millions on campaigns or take charge of massive megacorporations. We've very efficiently engineered a society where a whole bunch of old, white men make decisions for what is supposed to be the most diverse nation in the world.

Most people are good people. Most folks just keep to themselves and don't stick their noses into other peoples' business. Most of the people you know and love are just normal, with a normal perspective of the world and a normal set of opinions. So to make a normal society for normal people, it makes sense that what you need are normal decisions made by normal human beings. I guarantee you that five hundred average joes can make better decisions than ten exorbitantly rich politicians with corporate backing and skeletons in the closet.

Yeah, okay, but won't that still mostly just give power to white people?

That's the thing though. The Boule selected fifty members each from the ten tribes, so why don't we do the same? Select a set amount of people from various demographics (white, black, mexican, asian-american, etc.) to represent each equally?

That sounds like you're giving minorities more of a - - - okay, nevermind, yeah, that makes sense.

Glad I convinced you, totally real person typing in italics.

'Til next time, this has been 

Fadran With a Lot of Opinions

 

 

 

(And, uhh... apologies to the non-americans here, hehe).