## The Case for Abolishing Elections - Boston Review ### The Case for Abolishing Elections - Boston Review  #### Metadata * Author: [[Nicholas Coccoma]] * Full Title: The Case for Abolishing Elections - Boston Review * Category: #articles * URL: <https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-case-for-abolishing-elections/?utm_source=densediscovery&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-issue-220&cmdid=U4X79W7WTNI3RK> #### Highlights * Whether Yang knew it or not, the practice of choosing everyday citizens to make decisions goes back to the very inventors of democracy: the ancient Athenians. Over a thousand city-states made up the ancient Greek world, with at least half constituting some version of democracy. Of these, Athens developed the most radical. Between 600 and 322 B.C., through a series of significant reforms, a novel structure of politics emerged that seated power in the hands of the many rather than the wealthy few. The Greek word demokratia usually gets translated as "rule by the people," or, literally, "people power," but as historian Paul Cartledge argues in his 2016 book Democracy: A Life, the Athenians had a specific kind of people in mind: the laboring citizens of the community, as opposed to leisured aristocrats. Of course, at the time, this category included only free men, not women, immigrants, or the enslaved—a mere 30,000 or so people out of a total population of some 300,000. But the idea of rule by the common man itself marked a dramatic development in political history. The Athenians achieved this democracy through two avenues. First was direct participation in the ecclesia or assembly, the main political body that decided issues. Any citizen over the age of eighteen could attend its meetings (which occurred forty times a year and lasted just one day) and weigh in on its proceedings. Meetings dealt with matters both foreign and domestic. Listening to orators, debating among themselves, offering a show of hands, assembly-goers engaged in a forum for civic discovery. The system was not perfect: not every citizen could afford to attend or make the trip. The hillside near the agora where the assembly met had space for 6,000 attendees, far fewer than the 30,000 or so eligible citizens. Still, it was a remarkably high number of members given the small size of the body politic. In 390 B.C. payments were introduced in order to increase participation by poorer citizens. * In response to this discontent, reformers have proposed a slew of solutions. Some want to expand the House of Representatives, abolish the Electoral College, or eliminate the Senate. Others demand enhanced voting rights, the end of gerrymandering, stricter campaign finance laws, more political parties, or multi-member districts and ranked-choice voting. The Athenians would take a different view. The problem, they would point out, lies in elections themselves. We can make all the tweaks we want, but as long as we employ voting to choose representatives, we will continue to wind up with a political economy controlled by wealthy elites. # The Case for Abolishing Elections - Boston Review  ## Metadata - Author: [[Nicholas Coccoma]] - Full Title: The Case for Abolishing Elections - Boston Review - Category: #articles - URL: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-case-for-abolishing-elections/?utm_source=densediscovery&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-issue-220&cmdid=U4X79W7WTNI3RK ## Highlights - Whether Yang knew it or not, the practice of choosing everyday citizens to make decisions goes back to the very inventors of democracy: the ancient Athenians. Over a thousand city-states made up the ancient Greek world, with at least half constituting some version of democracy. Of these, Athens developed the most radical. Between 600 and 322 B.C., through a series of significant reforms, a novel structure of politics emerged that seated power in the hands of the many rather than the wealthy few. The Greek word demokratia usually gets translated as “rule by the people,” or, literally, “people power,” but as historian Paul Cartledge argues in his 2016 book Democracy: A Life, the Athenians had a specific kind of people in mind: the laboring citizens of the community, as opposed to leisured aristocrats. Of course, at the time, this category included only free men, not women, immigrants, or the enslaved—a mere 30,000 or so people out of a total population of some 300,000. But the idea of rule by the common man itself marked a dramatic development in political history. The Athenians achieved this democracy through two avenues. First was direct participation in the ecclesia or assembly, the main political body that decided issues. Any citizen over the age of eighteen could attend its meetings (which occurred forty times a year and lasted just one day) and weigh in on its proceedings. Meetings dealt with matters both foreign and domestic. Listening to orators, debating among themselves, offering a show of hands, assembly-goers engaged in a forum for civic discovery. The system was not perfect: not every citizen could afford to attend or make the trip. The hillside near the agora where the assembly met had space for 6,000 attendees, far fewer than the 30,000 or so eligible citizens. Still, it was a remarkably high number of members given the small size of the body politic. In 390 B.C. payments were introduced in order to increase participation by poorer citizens. - In response to this discontent, reformers have proposed a slew of solutions. Some want to expand the House of Representatives, abolish the Electoral College, or eliminate the Senate. Others demand enhanced voting rights, the end of gerrymandering, stricter campaign finance laws, more political parties, or multi-member districts and ranked-choice voting. The Athenians would take a different view. The problem, they would point out, lies in elections themselves. We can make all the tweaks we want, but as long as we employ voting to choose representatives, we will continue to wind up with a political economy controlled by wealthy elites.