Elections are bad for democracy
This sounds like a variation of Plato&#x27;s Philosopher Kings, which uses the &#x27;random sampling&#x27; argument to get around the obvious criticism of the elites being given the power.<p>&gt; The Ship of State is a famous and oft-cited metaphor put forth by Plato in Book VI of the Republic (488e–489d). It likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a naval vessel and ultimately argues that the only men fit to be captain of this ship (Greek: ναῦς) are philosopher kings, benevolent men with absolute power who have access to the Form of the Good. The origins of the metaphor can be traced back to the lyric poet Alcaeus (frs. 6, 208, 249), and it is found in Aeschylus&#x27; Seven Against Thebes before Plato.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ship_of_State" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ship_of_State</a><p>Unfortunately, many of the same criticisms apply to sortition as apply to Plato. The problem is that no-one really has access to the &quot;Form of the Good&quot;, and no-one can accurately predict what the overall outcome of a decision is going to be over the very long run, however much they study it. In fact, as Popper argues, you&#x27;re quite likely to draw the wrong conclusion and end up going horribly wrong.<p>On balance, I&#x27;d rather put my faith in a large number of people selected from all social backgrounds than a small number of people selected from a potentially narrow social background. There&#x27;s also a sense of shared agency about the decision making. If it turns out the wrong decision has been made, what are we to say to the person who is not only on the receiving end of said bad decision, but wasn&#x27;t even allowed to vote on it?<p>It also seems to me that one should be wary about making sweeping statements about a system that has endured for thousands of years in the wake of a decision that they themselves disagreed with.