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In this episode of 1Dime Radio, I am joined by Victor Bruzzone of the Pill Pod (Plastic Pills Podcast) to discuss forms of radical democracy such as Sortition - “the lot system” in which representatives are selected at random by lottery. It was used in Ancient Athens and for a time also in the Republics of Florence, Venice and Genoa. 

Sortition is not the same thing as “direct democracy,”  such as assembly (which was also used in Athenian Democracy). The Marxist Paul Cockshott also proposes the sortition system in his book, “Towards a New Socialism.” 

In The Backroom, Victor proposes his own variant of sortition, which he has been working on, which I found quite fascinating and innovative. You don’t want to miss it. 

Timestamps: 

00:00 Preview of The Backroom

03:02 A Radical Form of Representative Democracy

07:20 Sortition in Athens and the Italian City States

12:24 Pros and Cons of Sortition

41:01 Leo Strauss and The Aristocratic Reading Method

54:12 Intelligence and Epistocracy

01:04:33 Sortition vs Elections

Outro Music by Karl Casey

The book I was refering to was called “Principles of Representative Government” by Bernard Manin

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