TEDxDanubia
Brett Hennig: What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people?
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If you think democracy is broken, here's an idea: let's replace politicians with randomly selected people. Author and activist Brett Hennig presents a compelling case for sortition democracy, or random selection of government officials -- a system with roots in ancient Athens that taps into the wisdom of the crowd and entrusts ordinary people with making balanced decisions for the greater good of everyone. Sound crazy? Learn more about how it could work to create a world free of partisan politics.
Brett Hennig - Author, activist
Brett Hennig co-founded and directs the Sortition Foundation, which campaigns to institute the use of stratified, random selection (also called sortition) in government. Full bio
Brett Hennig co-founded and directs the Sortition Foundation, which campaigns to institute the use of stratified, random selection (also called sortition) in government. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I want to talk about
one of the big questions,
one of the big questions,
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perhaps the biggest question:
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How should we live together?
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How should a group of people,
who perhaps live in a city
who perhaps live in a city
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or in the continent
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or even the whole globe,
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share and manage common resources?
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How should we make
the rules that govern us?
the rules that govern us?
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This has always been
an important question.
an important question.
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And today, I think
it's even more important than ever
it's even more important than ever
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if we want to address rising inequality,
climate change, the refugee crisis,
climate change, the refugee crisis,
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just to name a few major issues.
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It's also a very old question.
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Humans have been asking
themselves this question
themselves this question
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ever since we lived
in organized societies.
in organized societies.
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Like this guy, Plato.
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He thought we needed benevolent guardians
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who could make decisions
for the greater good of everyone.
for the greater good of everyone.
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Kings and queens thought
they could be those guardians,
they could be those guardians,
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but during various revolutions,
they tended to lose their heads.
they tended to lose their heads.
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01:10
And this guy, you probably know.
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Here in Hungary, you lived for many years
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under one attempt to implement
his answer of how to live together.
his answer of how to live together.
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His answer was brutal, cruel and inhumane.
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But a different answer,
a different kind of answer,
a different kind of answer,
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which went more or less
into hibernation for 2,000 years,
into hibernation for 2,000 years,
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has had profound recent success.
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That answer is, of course, democracy.
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If we take a quick look
at the modern history of democracy,
at the modern history of democracy,
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it goes something like this.
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Along here, we're going
to put the last 200 years.
to put the last 200 years.
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Up here, we're going to put
the number of democracies.
the number of democracies.
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And the graph does this,
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the important point of which,
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is this extraordinary increase over time,
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which is why the 20th century
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has been called the century
of democracy's triumph,
of democracy's triumph,
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and why, as Francis Fukuyama said in 1989,
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some believe that we have reached
the end of history,
the end of history,
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that the question of how to live together
has been answered,
has been answered,
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and that answer is liberal democracy.
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02:13
Let's explore that assertion, though.
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I want to find out what you think.
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So I'm going to ask you two questions,
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and I want you to put your hands up
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if you agree.
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The first question is: Who thinks
living in a democracy is a good thing?
living in a democracy is a good thing?
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Who likes democracy?
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If you can think of a better system,
keep your hands down.
keep your hands down.
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Don't worry about those
who didn't raise their hands,
who didn't raise their hands,
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I'm sure they mean very well.
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The second question is:
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Who thinks our democracies
are functioning well?
are functioning well?
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Come on, there must be one politician
in the audience somewhere.
in the audience somewhere.
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(Laughter)
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02:46
No.
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But my point is, if liberal democracy
is the end of history,
is the end of history,
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then there's a massive paradox
or contradiction here.
or contradiction here.
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Why is that?
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Well, the first question
is about the ideal of democracy,
is about the ideal of democracy,
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and all these qualities
are very appealing.
are very appealing.
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But in practice, it's not working.
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And that's the second question.
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Our politics is broken,
our politicians aren't trusted,
our politicians aren't trusted,
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and the political system is distorted
by powerful vested interests.
by powerful vested interests.
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I think there's two ways
to resolve this paradox.
to resolve this paradox.
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One is to give up on democracy;
it doesn't work.
it doesn't work.
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Let's elect a populist demagogue
who will ignore democratic norms,
who will ignore democratic norms,
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trample on liberal freedoms
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and just get things done.
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The other option, I think,
is to fix this broken system,
is to fix this broken system,
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to bring the practice closer to the ideal
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and put the diverse voices of society
in our parliaments
in our parliaments
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and get them to make considered,
evidence-based laws
evidence-based laws
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for the long-term good of everyone.
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Which brings me to my epiphany,
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my moment of enlightenment.
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And I want you to get critical.
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I want you to ask yourselves,
"Why wouldn't this work?"
"Why wouldn't this work?"
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And then come and talk to me
afterwards about it.
afterwards about it.
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Its technical name is "sortition."
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But its common name is "random selection."
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And the idea is actually very simple:
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we randomly select people
and put them in parliament.
and put them in parliament.
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04:10
(Laughter)
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Let's think about that
for a few more minutes, shall we?
for a few more minutes, shall we?
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Imagine we chose you and you
and you and you and you down there
and you and you and you down there
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and a bunch of other random people,
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and we put you in our parliament
for the next couple of years.
for the next couple of years.
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Of course, we could stratify the selection
to make sure that it matched
to make sure that it matched
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the socioeconomic and demographic
profile of the country
profile of the country
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and was a truly representative
sample of people.
sample of people.
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Fifty percent of them would be women.
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Many of them would be young,
some would be old,
some would be old,
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a few would be rich,
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but most of them would be
ordinary people like you and me.
ordinary people like you and me.
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This would be a microcosm of society.
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And this microcosm would simulate
how we would all think,
how we would all think,
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if we had the time, the information
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and a good process to come to
the moral crux of political decisions.
the moral crux of political decisions.
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And although you may not be in that group,
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someone of your age,
someone of your gender,
someone of your gender,
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someone from your location
and someone with your background
and someone with your background
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would be in that room.
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The decisions made by these people
would build on the wisdom of crowds.
would build on the wisdom of crowds.
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They would become more
than the sum of their parts.
than the sum of their parts.
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They would become critical thinkers
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with access to experts,
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who would be on tap but not on top.
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And they could prove
that diversity can trump ability
that diversity can trump ability
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when confronting the wide array
of societal questions and problems.
of societal questions and problems.
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It would not be government
by public opinion poll.
by public opinion poll.
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It would not be government by referendum.
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These informed, deliberating people
would move beyond public opinion
would move beyond public opinion
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to the making of public judgments.
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However, there would be
one major side effect:
one major side effect:
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if we replaced elections with sortition
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and made our parliament
truly representative of society,
truly representative of society,
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it would mean the end of politicians.
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And I'm sure we'd all be
pretty sad to see that.
pretty sad to see that.
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(Laughter)
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Very interestingly,
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random selection was a key part
of how democracy was done
of how democracy was done
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in ancient Athens.
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This machine, this device,
is called a kleroteria.
is called a kleroteria.
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It's an ancient Athenian
random-selection device.
random-selection device.
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The ancient Athenians
randomly selected citizens
randomly selected citizens
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to fill the vast majority
of their political posts.
of their political posts.
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They knew that elections
were aristocratic devices.
were aristocratic devices.
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They knew that career politicians
were a thing to be avoided.
were a thing to be avoided.
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And I think we know these things as well.
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But more interesting than
the ancient use of random selection
the ancient use of random selection
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is its modern resurgence.
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The rediscovery of the legitimacy
of random selection in politics
of random selection in politics
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has become so common lately,
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that there's simply
too many examples to talk about.
too many examples to talk about.
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Of course, I'm very aware
that it's going to be difficult
that it's going to be difficult
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to institute this in our parliaments.
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Try this -- say to your friend,
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"I think we should populate our parliament
with randomly selected people."
with randomly selected people."
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"Are you joking?
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What if my neighbor gets chosen?
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The fool can't even
separate his recycling."
separate his recycling."
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But the perhaps surprising
but overwhelming and compelling evidence
but overwhelming and compelling evidence
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from all these modern examples
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is that it does work.
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If you give people responsibility,
they act responsibly.
they act responsibly.
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Don't get me wrong -- it's not a panacea.
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The question is not:
Would this be perfect?
Would this be perfect?
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Of course not.
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People are fallibly human,
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and distorting influences
will continue to exist.
will continue to exist.
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The question is: Would it be better?
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And the answer to that question,
to me at least, is obviously yes.
to me at least, is obviously yes.
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Which gets us back
to our original question:
to our original question:
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How should we live together?
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And now we have an answer:
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with a parliament that uses sortition.
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But how would we get from here to there?
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How could we fix our broken system
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and remake democracy for the 21st century?
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Well, there are several
things that we can do,
things that we can do,
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and that are, in fact,
happening right now.
happening right now.
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We can experiment with sortition.
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We can introduce it to schools
and workplaces and other institutions,
and workplaces and other institutions,
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like Democracy In Practice
is doing in Bolivia.
is doing in Bolivia.
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We can hold policy juries
and citizens' assemblies,
and citizens' assemblies,
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like the newDemocracy Foundation
is doing in Australia,
is doing in Australia,
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like the Jefferson Center
is doing in the US
is doing in the US
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and like the Irish government
is doing right now.
is doing right now.
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We could build a social movement
demanding change,
demanding change,
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which is what the Sortition Foundation
is doing in the UK.
is doing in the UK.
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And at some point, we should institute it.
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Perhaps the first step would be
a second chamber in our parliament,
a second chamber in our parliament,
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full of randomly selected people --
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a citizens' senate, if you will.
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There's a campaign
for a citizens' senate in France
for a citizens' senate in France
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and another campaign in Scotland,
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and it could, of course, be done
right here in Hungary.
right here in Hungary.
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That would be kind of like a Trojan horse
right into the heart of government.
right into the heart of government.
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And then, when it becomes impossible
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to patch over the cracks
in the current system,
in the current system,
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we must step up and replace
elections with sortition.
elections with sortition.
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I have hope.
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Here in Hungary,
systems have been created,
systems have been created,
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and systems have been
torn down and replaced
torn down and replaced
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in the past.
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Change can and does happen.
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It's just a matter of when and how.
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Thank you.
(Hungarian) Thank you.
(Hungarian) Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Brett Hennig - Author, activistBrett Hennig co-founded and directs the Sortition Foundation, which campaigns to institute the use of stratified, random selection (also called sortition) in government.
Why you should listen
Before co-founding the Sortition Foundation, Brett Hennig wore a variety of hats: as a taxi driver, a software engineer, a social justice activist, a mathematics tutor and the primary carer of four boys. He finished his PhD in astrophysics just before his first son arrived.
After spending several disheartening years in civil society organizations and politics, Hennig became inspired by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's trilogy on political philosophy and began investigating and researching network forms of democracy. The resulting book, The End of Politicians: Time for a Real Democracy, has been called "a book for visionaries" by New Internationalist contributing editor James Kelsey Fry and described as "a powerful critique and provocative alternative" by Professor Erik Olin Wright of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Hennig has given many talks promoting sortition and has contributed a chapter, "Who needs elections? Accountability, Equality, and Legitimacy under Sortition," to the forthcoming book Legislature by Lot: Transformative Designs for Deliberative Governance (Verso, 2019).
Brett Hennig | Speaker | TED.com