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I knew about the strategy for using randomness to control corruption, but didn't know it had a procedural name in governance. Thanks for this!


We really only practice it in one instance in modern democracy and that's jury duty, but that should be expanded into more roles and duties. That's one way to make society truly democratic.

In any case, you might be interested in Georgism, which is an anti-monopoly ideology most famously associated with very Strong Opinions on taxation of land and natural resources and untaxing production, along with taxation on pollution and negative externalities.

My impression is that sortition is very much in vogue within Georgist circles.


> We really only practice it in one instance in modern democracy and that's jury duty,

...and even there, it's terribly corrupted. There are all kinds of bizarre ways that people are excluded from juries which bias the result. One commonly-cited example is that people who report moral objections to capital punishment are excluded from being empaneled on a federal jury, under the pretext that because capital punishment is legal under federal law, they'd be unable to carry out the gammut of their duties. Of course this has the convenient result of dramatically biasing juries in favor of the state.

There's also no commonly-implemented proof-of-randomness for selection. We're told that people are randomly selected and get a notice in the mail, but there's no public event where one can go and watch a number tumbler generate the entropy used to select names from the voter rolls, etc.


I just say "I believe in jury nullification and will use that power if necessary".

Easiest out from jury duty ever, and if the judge want's to be a bltch and force me on anyway, well, let's just say that if the law is immoral than the defendant is going to walk.


> I just say "I believe in jury nullification and will use that power if necessary".

Have you actually said that during voir dire, or is this a hypothetical?


The last time I was called for jury duty someone said this during jury selection and we were all immediately dismissed and a new pool of jurors brought in.


You shouldn’t brag about shirking civic duty.


I unironically want to be on the jury. It's the judges fault for refusing to let principled believers in nullification on. I'm unironically not trying to shrink civic duty.


Then be quiet and don't mention it, lol. EVERYWHERE one learns about jury nullification makes it clear not to mention it in the selection process if you're anywhere near interested in participating.

It's an extraprocedural consequence of how the system is designed to function, the same way the right to revolution is an extralegal option in the Union. Yeah, you can know it and apply it - but don't say it out loud if you want to show any semblance of virtuosity.


I don’t buy it. These are your words:

> Easiest out from jury duty ever, and if the judge want's to be a bltch and force me on anyway…

“Easiest out” is clearly you avoiding the responsibility. If you wanted to be on a jury you wouldn’t be talking about easy outs or the judge “forcing” you to be on the jury.


Well, and for grand juries in particular, you're told that (more or less) this will be your life for six months. I certainly opted out as best I could.


It’s only registered voters too in most states


My understanding is that not registering to vote isn't automatically an opt-out but IANAL.


Depends on the state




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