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In the United States this might be worth trying at the state level for issues such as abortion and firearm regulation. But this would require a level of cooperation and trust by the governing bodies.

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The "trained facilitators" who help guide the discussion away from "undesirable results" creates a conundrum: they can also guide the discussion toward what they deem desirable.

We have seen this in the US in sincere-sounding but shadowy "community engagement" groups. Who could possibly object? And yet, the outcome always seems to favor the progressive left instead of a broader community viewpoint.

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I can see it now….all the fights over having representatives who are varying skin color, sexual preference, religion, etc.

How do you make selections? Voter registration rolls? At least that would be more likely to yield people who care about politics.

Why do you use the term Ireland’s “representative democracy“? That seems redundant to me.

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This, and I don't like the idea of randomly selecting the assembly. It's reminiscent of the carefully curated "man on the street" takes many media outlets give you, all of which shockingly support the outlet's position..

Any random citizens are likely to be easily manipulated by whatever operatives are deployed to "facilitate" discussion.

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Thank you. A few years ago, my town's assistant school superintendent was pushing Outcome Based Education, (OBE, also known by Mastery Learning and a few other euphemisms). One opponent showed us the Outcome Lists that numerous school districts had accepted from their own committees. Those committees were made up, of course, from a large diverse group of local citizens. The amazing discovery was that the Lists all looked about the same, since the pushers of OBE generously and thoughtfully provided a recommendation for a "facilitator" to help the clueless citizens produce their final product.

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Jun 29
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What you note is interesting, Gordon. However, I don't think the success of these exercises necessarily needs to be measured by how many of its recommendations are adopted. The point is to give citizens various points of inputs so that, whatever the final outcome, it has more legitimacy. What you note about the process being perverted is definitely more concerning and depressing. And that can happen to any process. But to the extent and for the time it works, it offers a way forward right now.

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Apologies, I accidentally deleted your comment :( Please repost!

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