one of the biggest criticisms of radical lefty political theory is
that it only critiques the current system and doesn’t offer solutions.
it’s a solid criticism and part of the reason i spend so much time
playing what if in my head. Wonder and i have been bouncing around the
idea of pulling names out of a hat instead of having elections. i like
it. it gives oppressed groups better access to power and ends the
money train that is campaign financing. but……
it leaves a power vacuum that would immediately be filled by non
elected, non random civil servants. they would become the agenda
setters, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, all the power lies in
the people who decide what issues are important. we need skilled civil
servants, especially if every few years we pick a whole new roster of
unskilled pols out of a hat, but how do you keep their power limited
to implementation of laws and not the creation of them? and would we
really want to choose our head of state out of a hat?

—
The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time.
Willem de Kooning