Since I am in the United States, what I am going to suggest here is based on observations of our system. In the United States there are two possible solutions. One is to change the method of choosing members of the House of Representatives to a jury system. If you think issues of passing laws are so complex that ordinary citizens would not be able to handle the job, you are wrong. I am not talking about a jury of 12 citizens. I am talking about a jury the size of the the membership of the House of Representatives. They would not have to be underpaid like jurors in court trials are paid.
The second method is slightly different and would entail the equivalent of a fourth branch of government. It would still be based on picking a jury. The role of the public jury would be to rule on the constitutionality of any law passed by the House and Senate and whether or not the law would be good for the citizens of the country. The decision would be made just like decisions are made in a jury trial. Notice that of our institutions, the jury system works very well, not perfect but very well. Our system of government, the way it is now is failing. The second system suggested is the better of the two.
When our leaders formed the country they anticipated issues with democracy. That is why the United States is organized as a Republic. The fear was that the masses would vote everyone else’s money into their pockets. That was a reasonable fear to have but they did not anticipate other ways the system could be corrupted.
As it has turned out, in a democratic system, it takes a very unlikely set of personality characteristics to get elected to a high office. Only folks with a political personality have the manipulative skills necessary to get elected to a high office. Political personality is like a euphemism for psychopath. The races are so competitive that the truth gets pushed out of the political dialog.
The founding fathers also expected that ordinary citizens would be more independent minded than it turns out they are. What determines how citizens vote. They vote for the candidate who tells them what they want to hear. That is not the truth. Voters serve only as a resource candidates use to win elections.
Today the United States government is used as a marketing tool for rigging markets and forcing citizens to buy goods and services they wouldn’t otherwise. For sure, self government won’t survive if folks are not willing to make necessary changes required to make it work properly.
The truth is a hard sell. Fantasy Free Economics gains readers one at a time. Major search engines simply do not list blogs which disagree with their political agenda. As long as folks share the link to this blog and others speaking out against the grain, the truth will at least trickle into the public consciousness.