Dr Hilary Cass will sit as a cross-bench Member of the House of Lords. This is it. Never has a peerage been more well deserved. In floods of tears here that she has the recognition for the task she took on with such aplomb, curiosity, insight and fairness. https://t.co/TYNnpdthsZ
You can’t make a democratic case for the House of Lords. If you have a two chamber system, the second chamber should be elected.
However in practice you do get very good, experienced, knowledgeable people involved in drafting and considering legislation, and a democratic system would not necessarily deliver that. There are grifters, shyster, party-donors, time servers and other such low people in the HoL – but there are plenty of clever, capable, public-spirited people as well.
You can’t make a democratic case for the House of Lords. If you have a two chamber system, the second chamber should be elected.
However in practice you do get very good, experienced, knowledgeable people involved in drafting and considering legislation, and a democratic system would not necessarily deliver that. There are grifters, shyster, party-donors, time servers and other such low people in the HoL – but there are plenty of clever, capable, public-spirited people as well.
This goes right to the heart of the problem. We should not be electing our representatives and lawmakers, nor should they be appointed by a ruling monarch. We should be hiring them, based on knowledge, experience, and integrity. Yes, we would fail sometimes, just like bad professors sometimes get hired. That’s also why we have probationary periods where it is easy to get rid of someone (or at least easier than after they pass the probationary period).
In such a system, a Donald Trump, a George W. Bush, or a Ronald Reagan would not likely make the cut. There are probably some good presidents that wouldn’t have made the cut, either, but whoever else was hired would possibly be as good – or better. And presidents/representatives/etc could quit campaigning and start governing. Every four years, they would need to be subjected to contract renewal process, which would involve performance evaluations, presence of continuing education credits, and so forth.
We have a lot of offices in Alabama that would be better off being people simply hired for the position, but they are elected, and actual qualifications for doing the job seem to count for nothing. It is intensely frustrating.
That’s very good news indeed, especially in a week of mostly awful news.
You can’t make a democratic case for the House of Lords. If you have a two chamber system, the second chamber should be elected.
However in practice you do get very good, experienced, knowledgeable people involved in drafting and considering legislation, and a democratic system would not necessarily deliver that. There are grifters, shyster, party-donors, time servers and other such low people in the HoL – but there are plenty of clever, capable, public-spirited people as well.
This goes right to the heart of the problem. We should not be electing our representatives and lawmakers, nor should they be appointed by a ruling monarch. We should be hiring them, based on knowledge, experience, and integrity. Yes, we would fail sometimes, just like bad professors sometimes get hired. That’s also why we have probationary periods where it is easy to get rid of someone (or at least easier than after they pass the probationary period).
In such a system, a Donald Trump, a George W. Bush, or a Ronald Reagan would not likely make the cut. There are probably some good presidents that wouldn’t have made the cut, either, but whoever else was hired would possibly be as good – or better. And presidents/representatives/etc could quit campaigning and start governing. Every four years, they would need to be subjected to contract renewal process, which would involve performance evaluations, presence of continuing education credits, and so forth.
A civil service, in short.
But there’s also the political/policy aspect, which is why voting is a thing.
A combination might be good. First a competency – qualifications filter, like a civil service, and then the political one, decided by voters.
iknklast #3, excellent, I agree very much.
We have a lot of offices in Alabama that would be better off being people simply hired for the position, but they are elected, and actual qualifications for doing the job seem to count for nothing. It is intensely frustrating.