Betting on Real Democracy

How a Randomized People’s Assembly could Fix our Broken Legislature

#unifyUSA Opinion paper

Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

The Problem with Elections

As of July 2024, only 16% of Americans approve of Congress.  Think about what that means - more than 4 in 5 US citizens disapprove of the main institution of our democracy - a legislature of their own representatives.  Many aspects of our elections are transparently broken.  Through the machinations of entrenched partisanship, gerrymandering, and dark money, only 30 (~7%) of the 435 seats in the House remain competitive in 2024.  It’s no wonder so many of us feel deprived of a voice in government.  But it doesn’t need to be this way.  Effective reforms are well-studied, and there’s a bold, practical toolkit available to help defeat our democratic demons.  In many cases we can scrap electoral politics entirely while still advancing our sacred democratic experiment.

Powerball to the People

What is this secret weapon?  - People’s Assemblies. -

From ancient Athens to modern Belgium, France and Ireland, history has demonstrated time and again that democracies benefit when they empower groups of everyday citizens, chosen at random, to make the kinds of decisions we normally entrust to politicians.  Imagine opening your mailbox to find an unexpected letter.  Inside, an invitation - you've been selected to participate in the People's Assembly - all of a sudden you’re a federal legislator.  Sound far-fetched? It shouldn't.  This system offers a transformative vision for democratic renewal, one that taps into our founding ideals while addressing the crisis of our current moment.  The tactic of random selection, called “sortition” or  “democratic lottery,” tackles the heart of the problem: partisan politics.  Randomized representatives never have to raise money or campaign.  They have no corporate donors or party whips whispering in their ears.  Just by random sampling, we can represent the American people without all the distortions of party entrenchment, dark money, and personal ambition.

With democratic lotteries in our toolkit, and 200 years of historical hindsight, we can envision a new legislative system for the USA, more immune to both partisan gridlock and monied interests.  Establishing a People’s Assembly as a fourth branch of government could be a viable path to true representative democracy in the United States.  Along with electoral reform, a citizen counterweight to the elected chamber(s) could help transform congress into a more fair and functional institution for the modern era.  Imagine a legislature where nurses serve alongside teachers; where factory workers deliberate with engineers; where young and old; town and country; left, right, and center all have a seat at the table. This isn’t just a dream—it's a reality we can achieve together.  There’s no reason we can’t literally attain what Lincoln extolled in the Gettysburg Address: a government of the people, by the people for the people.  

What we present below is our own plan for what that might look like, as the constitutional reform team at #unifyUSA.

The People’s Chambers

The US founders, and the Athenians, were very focused on preempting tyranny.  This crusade against autocracy and corruption led them to split the government into multiple bodies with distinct and limited functions.  From our vantage in 2024, it’s clear that their concerns were warranted - and, in the case of the founders, their strategies insufficient.  The scholarship on democratic lottery suggests we go even further, and divide the legislative powers of the People’s Assembly between multiple chambers, each tailored in form to its specific function.

Legislative Chambers under Democracy by Assembly

A. The Agenda Council: ~350 everyday Americans, chosen by lottery, setting our nation's legislative priorities. This diverse group—reflecting our full spectrum of backgrounds and beliefs—would determine which issues Congress must address. No more agenda-setting by party leaders or special interests.

B. House of Representatives (Reformed): A legislature that truly represents the spectrum of American thought, composed of dedicated public servants, and answerable to the people. Each seat is filled by a hybrid system of proportional party elections and democratic lottery.

C. Citizens' Forums: For each major bill, 750 randomly selected citizens would serve as a final check—like a jury for new laws. They'd hear arguments, examine evidence, and vote their conscience, serving as a bulwark of integrity against backroom deals and special interests.

A. The Agenda Council

Right now, the issues on the table in Congress are decided by the partisan majority.  That's part of the recipe for gridlock: when one party is in power, only their legislation sees daylight, so the opposition’s main incentive is to gum up the works.  America doesn’t have time for this endless tug-of-war.  We need an assembly that represents us as a whole to prioritize the issues that matter to most of us, and we can do this job for ourselves.

The Agenda Council would be the first chamber of the US People’s Assembly.  Imagine yourself receiving notice that you’d been selected to serve, deciding to accept the responsibility.  You would give up your private investments, receive your first monthly stipend, and travel to DC to meet your new colleagues from all over the country and all walks of life.  Together you would read petitions from the public and hear pleas from teachers, clergy, advocates, and scientists.  You would determine what legislation the country needs most at this moment in history, and help set a detailed agenda for congress to work off of with priorities, targets, restrictions, and deadlines.    

Through the Agenda Council, the American people would reclaim the authority to act as Congress’ boss, handing down specific assignments that would serve as a roadmap for action and a rubric of accountability.

B. The Citizens’ Forum

So let’s say Congress follows the Agenda Council’s orders and writes a law on… common-sense gun reform.  Do they just get to pass it?  Are we as citizens going to trust that their bill will actually work, that it balances security and freedom and places our shared humanity above the special interests of campaign donors?  NO! Of course not!  Remember their approval rating is still ~16%.  Everyday citizens deserve a chance to review the law, to make sure it’s comprehensible and fair, and to hear the arguments of neutral experts on whether it's well-written.

That’s the idea behind the Citizens’ Forum, a temporary assembly of citizens that judges whether a bill should become law.  Imagine jury duty, but with the electricity of massive, direct democracy: a thousand citizens gathered together in the halls of Congress to enact the will of the people.  The Agenda Council would make their statement, as would the parties (both the authoring coalition and the opposition), and several panels of experts on the topic area.  Without debate, you and your companions in this cross-section of America would submit your votes, either ratifying or rejecting the bill.  Critics may doubt that everyday citizens can handle such responsibility, but our history proves otherwise. The jury system—a cornerstone of American justice—demonstrates our faith in the wisdom of everyday people. Democracy by Assembly simply extends that principle to lawmaking, tapping into the wellspring of collective wisdom that flows through every community.

C. Advisory & Oversight

Who are these neutral experts?  Who sets the rules for legislative procedure?  These roles can (and should!) be filled by democratic lottery as well.  We know how good politicians are at manipulating facts and appointing cronies to reframe reality, and we don’t need to give them that chance.  Dedicated chambers within the People’s Assembly can keep the legislative process running smoothly and honestly: designing common-sense rules for Congress and the other chambers, enforcing ethics codes, and selecting expert advisors by lottery from pools of relevant professionals and academics. 

Congress Reborn

Americans like voting.  There’s something to be said for all people having a voice that isn’t fully satisfied by the equal potential for input granted by democratic lottery.  Our plan doesn’t replace the elected legislature; it aims to transform it into a more limited and effective public servant.  Yet the way we elect our representatives today is deeply unfair, so how do we fix it?  Every seat in congress should be truly competitive, and every citizen should have equal representation.  Elected legislators should be dedicated public servants focused on writing good laws, not glorified influencers and fundraisers focused on staying in power.  To achieve this, we offer a bold proposal:

First, get rid of the Senate.  Its disproportionate allocation of power betrays the basic principle of equality among all Americans.  Next, get rid of congressional districts altogether.  Redistricting offers an unnecessary opportunity for politicians to rig national outcomes, and even good-faith districts entrench the unearned power of the two-party system.  This can all be simpler! 

Following the lead of our democratic allies in Scandinavia and Latin America, America could vote for congress as a single national district,  and assign congressional seats proportionally to our preferred parties.  This system would reduce partisan gridlock by removing the spoiler effect; 3rd party votes would no longer be “thrown away” or help elect the opposition.  Under a single-district system, if the libertarians get 15% of the vote, they get 15% of the seats in congress.  Citizens can vote with their conscience and still have their voice heard in a governing coalition.  Plus, healthy competition between the parties is restored, leading each to develop a broad and positive appeal to voters, rather than defining themselves in opposition to a single antagonist.

In other countries with this type of system, the parties write ordered lists of who they will appoint to the legislature if they win seats.  But with the democratic lottery in our back pocket, we can do better.  We can assign seats to parties by a national election, but assign seats to individuals within parties by lottery.  This would end partisan campaigns based on personal charisma, insider connections, or fundraising ability.  It would force parties to run on the strength of their ideas, and incentivize them to fill their lists with folks who can legislate well, rather than folks who can help them win. This second lottery in the House of Representatives would decouple the messiness of partisan campaigning from the unity and collaboration that’s needed to pass good laws in a pluralistic society.  We could have our democratic cake and eat it too.

Conclusion

This vision for Democracy by Assembly addresses the crisis of the moment and reinvigorates our founding ideals.  It expands our freedoms by giving each citizen a more meaningful stake in our democracy, while calling on everyday Americans to serve our country in a profound new way.  It brings diverse voices together outside of a partisan binary, unifying our national community and strengthening our sense collective destiny.  It guarantees that We the People actually make decisions about how to live together. 

What we’ve discussed here is just one part of our vision at #UnifyUSA.  You can find more details about our proposal for a transformed legislature here, and we’ll be putting out similar plans for the Judiciary and Executive branches in August.  However, we believe first and foremost in the wisdom and authority of the American People.  That’s what we laid out in the Declaration of Interdependence, and it’s why we’re calling for a People’s Convention where we’ll collectively draft the Interdependence Covenant: a constitutional model for renewed democracy in the United States.  Big changes are still possible in America - and times of constitutional crisis are an opportunity to build something better together, truer to our founding ideals.  Stay in touch, and stay tuned!

#unifyUSA published a detailed discussion paper: Renewing Democracy: Toward a People’s Branch of Government

Key References:

• Bouricius, Terrill. "Democracy Through Multi-Body Sortition: Athenian Lessons for the Modern Day." The Journal of Deliberative Democracy 9, no. 1 (2013): Article 11.

• Hennig, Brett. The End of Politicians: Time for a Real Democracy. London: Unbound, 2017.

• Landemore, Helene. Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020

• Sintomer, Yves. The Government of Chance: Sortition and Democracy from Athens to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.

• Van Reybrouck, David. Against Elections: The Case for Democracy. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2018.