To the Editor,

I was a bit amused to see Giles Howard go Bolshevik in his… To the Editor,

I was a bit amused to see Giles Howard go Bolshevik in his April 14 article, “Laws, leaders not the solution,” advocating the creation of “citizen legislatures” not that dissimilar from the Soviets of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Though his criticisms of parliaments are well taken, he fails to identify the root cause of political corruption, bureaucracy and careerism: representative government.

Elected governments everywhere are thoroughly unrepresentative of the people they are supposed to represent, because the selection of leaders by vote is a principle of aristocracy, where the “best” — the wealthy and well-educated — are held out as the “elect” of society.

Initially, popular legislatures invariably degenerate into clubs of professional politicians who cannot be reigned in through recalls or wage controls.

The only solution is Athenian-style democracy, whereby politicians are abolished, all matters — whether of community or national scale — are put to a direct vote by citizens and all popular decisions are enforced by councils with no legislative powers, staffed by ordinary citizens chosen by lot.

Matt Kosko

Arts and Sciences