Athens, Sparta and Rome: The Ancient Election
the-tls.co.uk
the-tls.co.uk
Aristotle:
> Democracy arose from the idea that those who are equal in any respect are equal absolutely. All are alike free, therefore they claim that all are free absolutely... The next is when the democrats, on the grounds that they are all equal, claim equal participation in everything.
> It is accepted as democratic when public offices are allocated by lot; and as oligarchic when they are filled by election.
In fact hereditary offices are a form of sortition, and they have proven not to be a particularly good system.
(I've never been a fan of Aristotle anyway)
We all also seen what it looks when people qualified AND wanting the job were given it -- we have been seeing that for centuries and it's not pleasant either.
>In fact hereditary offices are a form of sortition, and they have proven not to be a particularly good system.
No, they are not. Sortition must be random in background and circumstances among the represented people. Hereditary office is the least random way of distributing power. Even democratic elections bring more randomness to the pool.
I don't know why the Athenians thought this to be weird, I guess they had their reasons. But I can think of one benefit of the Spartanian way.
If you raise hands, you can quickly change when you see what others are doing. When you shout, you have to inhale as much as you can to shout as loud as you can. You first have to make up your mind, before you can hear others.