Pro Commerce

The Future of a Random Legislature

In 1978 I wrote an article proposing that legislative bodies be created by random selection like juries.  My friend ‘Chick’ Callenbach then offered to write a book with me on the subject.  It was called A Citizen Legislature. Published in 1981, it became part of every political science course on the planet. The original model was a Greek legislature called the Boule. Then in the late 1980s it almost became a reality when the proposal nearly became law in British Columbia, losing by only one vote.

Now America is nearly at the point of a civil war, I can see that a random legislature will become a viable choice in the discussions in the near future to resolve our close call with the precipice of democratic failure.

Would a random legislature resolve our current problem?  

That is a separate question.  My prediction that the random legislature will become a subject of discussion is an answer to a different question.  ‘Would it resolve the divergence of the American Republic?’ is not the same question.

The answer depends on my analysis of the current problem.  If my analysis is correct it would resolve our current nightmare.  

My diagnosis is that our current schism is caused by the rise to power of labor unions and labor union values.  Labor unions emerged as the only coherent power after the ruling hereditary elite dissolved in the 1960-65 period. The evidence of this thesis is the  emergence of ‘wokism’ in the U.S and Israel at the same time. And the total union control of the California body politic where unions are the strongest in the country.

With a random legislature, labor unions would not dominate the selected bodies.  There would be union members, of course, but they would be less than 7% of the citizens and would have very little direct influence.

There you have it.  My solution and my analysis.

Global News Reading Failure

I have a wide circle of friends in Japan and I read several English language Japanese newspapers.  I also have friends in many other countries and follow the press in four of them..

Each country has its own political spectrum.  The American spectrum is from Hate Trump to Love Trump.  Almost everyone in the world thinks America is predominantly on the Hate Trump side of the spectrum, if they have any opinion about American politics.  Russian and Chinese citizens do not hold this view.

Of course, in reality, American politics is divided four ways.  Half of adult citizens don’t vote. Among the remaining half the percentage is 25% love Trump 10% are in the middle and 15% hate Trump.

Why does the world have such an incorrect Hate Trump view of American politics?

Because the American newspaper that shapes global opinion is the New York Times.  Most of the world has no idea, and I can say this for certainty about Japan, that the New York Times is 100% in the Hate Trump column and has been for a decade. The New York Times also hates Israel and has for 45 years. It has hated Jews for 80 years. 

 The New York Times is the spokes medium for the ‘Woke’ world.  Most of the world doesn’t take the Times seriously for two of its three main Woke theses.  The readers of the world do not think there are more than two genders and they doubt that America has a systemic hostility based on race.  From reading the Times articles about the multiple black elected officials the readers would guess that blacks hold more elective offices in America than are found on the entire continent of Africa.  A quick search of Google would confirm that view.  

The NYTimes view that has global concurrence is the human caused global climate Armageddon.  This is not held by Chinese, Russian, Indian or African populations.

Is this NYTimes global opinion monopoly likely to change?  Only if it is replaced by some global Chinese medium or some new trusted Internet medium.  Both are unlikely.

Advertising Failure

My best-selling book, Marketing Without Advertising, explains why advertising doesn’t work except on children's products and for tourists. The book explains how to do effective marketing.

A wonderful example is in today's Wall Street Journal, (8/3/2023). 

Bud Light, the most popular American beer, insulted its clients with a frivolous marketing character who is a man dressed as a woman and being silly.  Sales since the ad campaign have fallen 26% and market share has fallen from 10% to the 6% range.

Bud Light increased its national ads from 32 TV ads the same time last year, June and July,  to 34,000 this year (yes, from 2 digits to 5 digits).  While market share dropped 2% points from 8% to 6% during the same period.

Three cheers for the evidence that advertising, even at the million dollar level, is counter productive.