If you think democracy is broken, here's an idea: let's replace politicians with randomly selected people. Author and activist Brett Hennig presents a compelling case for sortition democracy, or random selection of government officials -- a system with roots in ancient Athens that taps into the wisdom of the crowd and entrusts ordinary people with making balanced decisions for the greater good of everyone. Sound crazy? Learn more about how it could work to create a world free of partisan politics.

What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people?

Representative democracy promises equality, but in practice, many feel politics is broken and dominated by vested interests. The idea of sortition, or randomly selecting citizens for parliament, echoes the system used in ancient Athens and is gaining modern traction. By mirroring a nation’s true diversity—age, gender, wealth—random selection could lead to more trusted, thoughtful, and evidence-based decisions. Experiments in countries like Ireland and Australia show that when people are given responsibility, they often rise to the challenge.

Replacing Politicians With Ordinary Citizens Could Revitalize Democracy

*The End of Politicians: Time for a Real Democracy*

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Brett Hennig: What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people?