The Compendium of Common Criticisms against Sortition
The purpose of this document is simple - to compile typical criticisms against sortition.
Competence
Average people are dumb and uninformed.
Ordinary people are even more corrupt than politicians, on top of that they are dumb as bricks.
Our government officials ought to be qualified and skilled.
Average citizens don’t know the ins and outs of economic policy.
Only people with high IQ ought to be eligible for office.
Government ought to be run as a meritocracy.
Letting “real people” be in charge would lead to being ruled by people like Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, etc
Jury duty is terrible and therefore so would sortition.
Selected jurors would try to avoid duty, just like modern jurors
The results of sortition would be random and chaotic when some idiot takes the wheel.
Maybe sortition is better than what we have now, but I doubt that it’s the best system. Surely we could do better than random!
Ignorant, normal people are prone to conspiratorial thinking, QANON, satanic panics, etc.
Maybe sortition is good, but only for the local level.
Corruptibility
Without a mechanism of accountability the jurors would become corrupt.
The jurors would be too easily swayed by experts and bureaucrats.
Somebody could rig the lottery!
It would be easier to bribe normal people rather than politicians.
It would be easier to intimidate or threaten normal people by powerful interest groups.
Implementation
It is too far fetched for people in power to give it up in favor of democracy.
Sortition could never work in real life.
Legitimacy
Without elections, sortition is illegitimate.
Choice
I want to be able to choose my politicians.
If you want better politicians, you should just vote better.
I want to be able to have a say in our laws.
Elections are needed to create consent of the governed.