Date: Fri, 19 Feb 99 10:15:13 EST
From: "Brian J. Callahan" <Brian=J.=Callahan%MT%DFCI-AT-EYE.DFCI.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: re: Thoughts on Democracy.


Aaron writes:
>Ummm... what is this ancient Greek system?  Everybody plays the lottery,
>and whoever wins the lottery is elected (if they wanna be)? 

I think the system was simply that in ancient Athens (George Fragos, maybe 
you can add detail?) certain offices in the city government were chosen by 
lot.  Sometimes, I'm not sure of the proportion, the lot chose not a person 
but a tribe.  I believe this was the case with trials--my memory grows dim-- 
where the judge or presiding officer was actually chosen by lot or rotated 
among tribes, and the tribes would then choose an elder to speak for them. 
                                                   
I vaguely remember a description of this, I think, in I.F. Stone's "The Trial 
of Socrates".

Anyway, the idea then was largely to negate the power of the rich and 
"noble".  Elections could be bought, then as now.