Repair California with deliberative democracy

Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker endorses an innovative deliberative democracy idea, which a group called Repair California calls a citizens' constitutional convention, that aims to fix the broken state.

"The genius of Repair California's approach is twofold.  First, it steers clear of "social issues"....Second, the [constitutional convention] delegates would be chosen randomly from the adult population....To have faith in such a process requires a faith in the good sense and sincerity of ordinary people -- a faith that just about everybody professes.  The beauty part is that no one can know what the delegates would come up with -- which is why the idea has won such broad support."

The method is otherwise known as a citizens' assembly, which lately has been tried twice, unsuccessfully, by two Canadian provinces seeking to reform their electoral processes.  The key features of a citizens' assembly of this kind are that, by design, it cannot be captured by interest groups, since none of any variety receive representation, and it is truly representative of the population, since its membership is large and randomly chosen.

Would it work?  The experience of Ontario and British Columbia is that voters will not rubber stamp what the convention puts before them for a vote; the groups who are perceived winners and losers will not fail to campaign strenuously to influence their fate.  But Californians are accustomed to having their hands on the steering wheel of power, via the initiative process. A process that disenfranchises narrow interests in favor of those taking the broadest view may resonate.  California is a state whose formerly progressive and now much-amended constitution has come to rival its freeways as a symbol of gridlock.

-- Bill Corbett

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[Nursing pajamas]

The key features of a citizens' assembly of this kind are that, by design, it cannot be captured by interest groups, since none of any variety receive representation, and it is truly representative of the population, since its membership is large and randomly chosen.