Sortition
business methods are informed by research which is
conducted on the basis of an advanced theoretical
perspective on global developments. The following
perspective rests on theoretical premises which grant full
recognition to the dependent relation between common sense
and non partisan forms of democratic practice. Although, as
James Madison recognised, perfect impartiality is
unattainable, the practical goal of formulating general
principles of approach which are the least imperfect
nevertheless remains valid and, clearly stated, can help
ensure policy is conducted within non partisan parameters
of discretion.
Today world events are increasingly defined by the
longstanding distinctions and limitations which
circumscribe the alternate possibilities suggested by and
embodied in the American and European constitutions.
Company policy recognises the modern US Constitution to be
the most democratic constitution in the world at the
present time. This landmark achievement in political
progress could nevertheless be improved upon in three areas
by appropriate amendments, all of which are consistent with
the democratic intentions and political philosophical
tenets of common sense realism known to and almost
certainly upheld by the founding fathers. This could
include more fully incorporating the organisational
strengths of Athenian democracy in their relation to what
Alexander Hamilton termed representative democracy.
Modern representative democracy is vulnerable to
deleterious factional influences, including those
associated with the interests and social effects of
inherited wealth. The US Constitution could be amended to
favour a tax regime which more consistently upholds the
self evident truth that we are all born equal by, where
possible, shifting the burden of taxation from wages and
profits to inherited wealth. On this basis it could
incorporate the non-partisan democratic decision-making
flexibility of sortition as a means of election. These
amendments could thereby facilitate experimentation with
radically distinct methods of macroeconomic organisation
which properly require testing over time through stable
forms of democratic scrutiny which are less vulnerable to
conflict engendered by factional extremism. An important
supplementary amendment consistent with these changes could
favour an increase or transfer of public funds to finance
remuneration for the work of scrutiny performed by ordinary
citizens through non-partisan forms of democratic
participation, as was the practice in Athenian democracy.
A weakness of the European Constitution is that its
provisions generally fail to distinguish the self evident
from truths which can be derived from such knowledge. It is
presupposed by a legacy of philosophical misconceptions
concerning the constitutional role of common sense the
origins of which can be traced to the difficulties and
shortcomings of the French Revolution. Britain and America
built their democracies on the foundations of Magna Carta
and the 1688 Bill of Rights. The constitutional tenets
incorporated in these documents in turn rest upon the
authentically Athenian democratic practice of trial by
jury, and with this the sovereignty of common sense. French
republicans inherited and have largely continued to
maintain a centralised autocratic state which the monarchy
had constructed to serve the requirements of feudal
absolutism. The French Declaration of Rights does not
include the right to trial by jury despite the fact that
Thomas Jefferson had advised that this right is the only
means by which a government can ultimately be held
accountable to its constitution. The European Constitution
does not contain the right to trial by jury largely as a
result of these shortcomings and is consequently vulnerable
to extremist factional influences, including those
associated with totalitarian ideologies. In its present
lengthy form it is probably too prescriptive and complex to
accommodate non-partisan forms of democratic macroeconomic
decision making flexibility, but if radically amended in
ways which accord with the improved version of the US
Constitution suggested above might nevertheless still
provide a viable constitutional framework for political
progress.
Sortition policy will be to promote dialogue and to support
initiatives which can facilitate these aims, such as the
holding of a
Conference on International
Electoral Standards.