<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">I see this as replacing our Executive (President), in the context of other forms of our government remaining consistent. So there would still be a Constitution, a Senate and a House. The council would be subject to the law, not above the law. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I think it would be easier for a council to educate itself on technical issues, from testimony of experts, than for an electorate trying to vote on individual laws. Lawyers usually write those laws in such a way as to confuse the hurried voter, but it would be harder to easily bamboozle those who have the time to study the issue at greater leisure.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Checks and balances would still be in the system, and change would still proceed slowly. (Undoubtedly, this would be the main source of complaint about it from all sides, as it would mean that no one side ever gets its way—but that’s true of any good goveranance system). </div><br class=""><div apple-content-edited="true" class="">
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<br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Dec 16, 2015, at 8:43 AM, Adrian Tymes <<a href="mailto:atymes@gmail.com" class="">atymes@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 8:07 AM, Tara Maya <span dir="ltr" class=""><<a href="mailto:tara@taramayastales.com" target="_blank" class="">tara@taramayastales.com</a>></span> wrote:<br class=""><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word" class=""><div class="">One of the few serious alternatives to democracy that I’ve considered might work is a system of Representative Consensus. A council of twelve, rather like a jury, is chosen by random selection from the pool of eligible citizens, and they perform as the Executive, discussing decisions and coming to a conclusion by consensus. In rare cases where consensus could not be reached, the entire council would be re-drawn. (So it would be like the Ultimate Game, in that those groups who could not reach a compromise would be punished.)</div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">What about issues where specific technical expertise is needed to make a good decision? (Admittedly, that's not entirely solved in the current system either.)<br class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">More importantly, what about cases where a majority of the 12 represent views opposite the majority of the population, and take measures to extend their reign?<br class=""></div></div></div></div>
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