Good Morning, Raph
When I offered to send you a draft of the petition outlining a method of
selecting candidates for public office, I planned to send it privately.
After seeing your response, I asked the author's permission to post it
publicly and he agreed. Here's the draft in its current form:
(draft) (draft) (draft) (draft)
P-E-T-I-T-I-0-N
To the Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen
We, the undersigned citizens and registered voters of Sefton, in the
spirit of Article 6, paragraph 6.03(a)(iii) of our Sefton Constitution,
ask that you consider and implement our proposal to enhance community
participation in Sefton's electoral process.
We believe our proposal, which we call 'Practical Democracy', will make
democratic access to our government available to our entire community.
The process is straightforward and gives every voter an opportunity to
stand as a candidate to represent the people of Sefton, based solely on
their individual desire and ability.
The method we outline in the dossier before you does not depend on the
nomination of a candidate by persons who may have a vital interest in
the candidate's election. It is a process by which the people of Sefton
... all the people of Sefton ... seek out and nominate the persons most
representative of their values and aspirations for our community.
The method does not rely on swaying the electors of Sefton with glibness
or inflaming their passions. Instead, it ensures that candidates are
examined by their peers, carefully, to determine their qualities and
their principles. It creates a circumstance in which those who wish to
become candidates for election must present a rational basis for their
selection. They must explain their candidacy in a compelling manner ...
so compelling that even those who also seek the same nomination find
them worthy.
In order to give the councillors an opportunity to study and reflect on
the candidate selection method outlined in the dossier, I request that
the Council grant me and my fellow petitioners an opportunity to return
at the next Council meeting to respond to questions regarding this petition.
If there are any questions, I will be happy to answer them. Otherwise, I
yield the balance of my time.
Thank you.
PRACTICAL DEMOCRACY
Candidate Selection By The People of Sefton
Prepared For
SEFTON METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
Petitioners:
(List of Petitioners)
FOUNDATION
The people of Sefton wish to seek out and select those of us who are the
most characteristic of our attitudes and aspirations and nominate them
to serve as our representatives on the Sefton Council. The method we
propose is democratic (i.e., allows the entire electorate to
participate), egalitarian (i.e., gives everyone an equal chance to
participate), and is in harmony with natural human impulses.
We present the concept in the simplest, most direct way possible. We
will, necessarily, suggest a few of the mechanics, but they are
secondary to our goal of selecting those of our peers who are best
suited to stand as candidates for seats on our Borough Council. We
shall provide additional detail at the Council's pleasure.
METHOD
1) Divide the electorate into random groupings of three people
called triads. The random grouping mechanism must insure that
no two people are assigned to a triad if they served together
in a triad in any of the five most recent elections.
2) Assign a date and time by which each triad must select
one of its members to represent the other two. If a triad
fails to notify the Returning Officer (RO) of its selection
by the assigned date and time, the triad shall be deemed
disinclined to participate in the process.
3) Randomly divide the participants so selected into new triads.
4) Repeat from step 2 until a target number of candidates are
selected.
DISCUSSION
The Sefton Electoral Commission conducts the process. It randomly
selects the participants of each triad and supplies the triads with the
text of pending ordinances and a synopsis of the budget appropriate to
the group. In addition, on request, it makes the full budget available
and supplies the text of any existing ordinances. This insures a
careful examination of public matters and encourages a thorough
discussion of partisan views on matters of public concern.
For convenience, we refer to each iteration as a "Level", such that
Level 1 is the initial grouping of the entire electorate, Level 2 is the
grouping of the selections made at Level 1, and so forth. The entire
electorate participates at level 1 giving everyone an equal opportunity
to advance to succeeding levels. Triad assignments at Levels 1 through
3 shall be based on geographic proximity to the maximum extent
practical, provided the assignments satisfy the requirement for randomness.
As the process advances through the levels, the amount of time the
participants spend together increases. At level 1, groups may meet for
a few minutes, over a back-yard fence, so-to-speak, but that would not
be adequate at higher levels. As the levels advance, the participants
need more time to evaluate those they are grouped with. They also need
transportation and facilities for meeting and voting. These are
mechanical details.
The initial phase of the process is dominated by participants with
little interest in advancing to higher levels. They do not seek public
office; they simply wish to pursue their private lives in peace. Thus,
the most powerful human dynamic during the first phase (i.e., Level 1
and for some levels thereafter) is a desire by the majority of the
participants to select someone who will represent them. The person so
selected is more apt to be someone who is willing to take on the
responsibility of going to the next level than someone who actively
seeks elevation to the next level, but those who do actively seek
elevation are not inhibited from doing so.
As the levels increase, the proportion of disinterested parties
diminishes and we enter the second phase. Here, the participants that
advance are marked, more and more, by an inclination to seek further
advancement. Those who actively seek selection must persuade their
triad that they are the best qualified to represent the other two.
While that is easy at the lower levels, it becomes more difficult as the
process moves forward and participants are matched with peers who also
wish to be chosen.
Each participant must make a choice between the other two people in the
triad knowing they must rely on that person's integrity to guide their
future actions and decisions. Since they are unable to control the
person selected, they must choose the person they believe most likely to
conduct public business in the public interest.
However, they do not make their choices blindly. Elections are a
periodic process. The majority of those seeking candidacy will do so
each time the process recurs. Some will achieve public office and their
performance will be a matter of public record. When they participate in
subsequent occurrences of the process, their peers will evaluate that
record to help them decide the candidate's suitability.
Furthermore, the names of advancing candidates are announced as each
level completes. Members of the public with knowledge of unseemly acts
by an advancing candidate can present details for consideration at the
next level. Since, after the initial levels, the peers also seek
advancement, they won't overlook inappropriate behavior.
Hence, a powerful new human dynamic, the pursuit of self-interest, is
integrated into the system: Those who seek public office find it in
their own best interest to maintain their integrity.
Other features of face-to-face meetings in three-person triads are that
they allow participants to observe the non-verbal clues humans emit
during discourse, they tend to favor moderate attitudes over extremism,
and the dissimulation and obfuscation that are so effective in
media-based politics will not work in a group of three people, each of
whom has a vital interest in reaching the same goal as the miscreant.
Instead, advancement depends on candidates' ability and persuasiveness,
perceived trustworthiness, and the probity with which they fulfilled any
public obligations.
This is a distillation process, biased in favor of the most upright and
capable of our citizens. It cannot guarantee that unprincipled
individuals will never be selected ... such a goal would be unrealistic
... but it does insure that they are the exception rather than the rule.
The cost of conducting an election by this method is free to the
participants, except for the value of their time, and minimal to the
government. Thus, it removes the greatest single cause of corruption in
politics ... the need for campaign funds.
ILLUSTRATION
This table describes the method by which the members of the Church Ward
will select candidates for the Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council:
Select
Randomly
From
Full Over Previous Total
Level Candidates Triads flow Level Triads Selected(1)
1) 9001 3000 1 0 3000 3000
2) 3001(2) 1000 1 2 1001 1001
3) 1001 333 2 1 334 334
4) 334 111 1 2 112 112
5) 112 37 1 2 38 38
6) 38 12 2 1 13 13
7) 13 4 1 2 5 5
8) 5 1 2 1 2 2(3)
(1) The example assumes each of the triads selects a candidate.
(2) Level 2 is a special case. If the number of candidates does
not divide equally into triads, any candidates remaining are
overflow. When there is overflow from Level 1, the extra
person(s) automatically become candidates at Level 2.
Thereafter, when there is overflow at any level, the number
of people needed to create a full triad are selected at
random from the people who were not selected at the previous
level.
(3) The two (or whatever number the Council decrees) people so
selected are the candidates the people of the Church Ward
nominate to speak for them on the Sefton Metropolitan Borough
Council.
The Council will decide the proper life for the triads. The
dates shown here illustrate the concept.
Level Start Report Days
1) 12/03/08 12/08/08 5
2) 12/10/08 12/15/08 5
3) 12/17/08 01/05/09 12 (4)
4) 01/07/09 01/19/09 12
5) 01/21/09 02/09/09 19
6) 02/11/09 03/02/09 19
7) 03/04/09 03/30/09 26
8) 04/01/09 04/27/09 26
Election Day: May 7th, 2009
(4) The life of Level 3 is extended from a nominal 12 days to 19
to accommodate the Christmas and New Year holidays.
CONCLUSION
We believe the Practical Democracy method of selecting candidates for
the Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council will enhance democracy in
Sefton. We urge you to implement the process without delay.
Respectfully submitted,
(List of Petitioners)
Footnotes regarding the Practical Democracy process, but not included in
the Sefton petition:
#1: The face-to-face meetings of the Practical Democracy process
eliminate any possibility of electronic voting fraud.
#2: The process is inherently bi-directional. Questions on specific
issues can easily be transmitted directly to and from the electors for
the guidance or instruction of elected officials.
(draft) (draft) (draft) (draft)
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