A modest proposal

Imagine if next November, some number of registered voters arrived home to discover registered letters from their state voting board containing language in the rough form: "You have been selected to serve a two-year term as United States Senator for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

My assertion is: our representatives would actually represent us much more effectively if we did not elect them. I believe only a delusional pollyanna could think otherwise when they considered the trends of our political system. If we filled our legislative houses by the same methods we use to fill our jury boxes, we'd have what our democratic process was intended to deliver but no longer can and never will again without such comprehensive rethinking.

Under this system, each registered voter of proven citizenship, able to read at a 7th grade level, and free of gross mental defect and felony conviction would be asked to serve as a Senator or member of the House if randomly selected from their state or voting district. Terms would be standardized to 2 years, to reduce the burden on those who served reluctantly. Those who felt they did a good job and who wanted to continue could ask for a majority vote for extended service, but limited to four consecutive terms. Such votes would either grant them an extended term, or would require them to surrender their seat to a successor selected by the same random draw as provided it.

Corporate influence on elections would vanish. The posturing and fixed thinking would be greatly reduced, as would party-aligned polarization. We could focus on more important things than deciding which slick candidate's slanted portrayal of his opponent was more plausible. Minorities would be represented in a proportional manner. Ideas exchanged within the Senate and House of Representatives would compete on their merits and not on the corrupting currencies that accrue in the form of backscratching favors and control of committees that have ossified over decades.

What are the downsides? Some people will prove inept. This is a big issue if their tenure were protracted (which it will not be), and if their weakness was not mirrored, statistically, by other weak leaders selected to represent other locales. How bad is having a bad senator for 2 years? They do not sign treaties or individually ratify them. Rather, a "strong leader" in the legislative branch of government is, him/herself the cause of one of the great faults of our system, as the fruit leaders deliver is to attract more pork spending to their district at the expense of other districts across the country. This system would ensure, by and large, an equitable distribution along lines that could be convincingly argued by representatives who are unburdened by special interests.