Citizens’ assemblies use stratified random sampling to ensure demographic representation - including people with no prior political involvement. Unlike self-selected political groups, properly designed assemblies deliberately include “normies” from all walks of life who are given time and resources to become informed.
The BC Citizens’ Assembly selected one man and one woman randomly from each electoral district specifically to avoid the “bubble” problem you’re describing. This is fundamentally different from referendums where voters make decisions with minimal information, often influenced by misleading campaigns.
The evidence shows that given adequate time and information, ordinary citizens make remarkably thoughtful policy recommendations. If we want substantive electoral reform, we need processes that combine democratic legitimacy with informed decision-making.
Your last paragraph is provably false, there is plenty of good information out there and there has been for a long time, yet people are less informed and more ignorant than ever.
And again, someone who would agree to participate in a citizens assembly, even if the person is randomly selected, will tend to not be representative of most people because most people would decline to participate.
Citizens’ assemblies use stratified random sampling to ensure demographic representation - including people with no prior political involvement. Unlike self-selected political groups, properly designed assemblies deliberately include “normies” from all walks of life who are given time and resources to become informed.
The BC Citizens’ Assembly selected one man and one woman randomly from each electoral district specifically to avoid the “bubble” problem you’re describing. This is fundamentally different from referendums where voters make decisions with minimal information, often influenced by misleading campaigns.
The evidence shows that given adequate time and information, ordinary citizens make remarkably thoughtful policy recommendations. If we want substantive electoral reform, we need processes that combine democratic legitimacy with informed decision-making.
Your last paragraph is provably false, there is plenty of good information out there and there has been for a long time, yet people are less informed and more ignorant than ever.
And again, someone who would agree to participate in a citizens assembly, even if the person is randomly selected, will tend to not be representative of most people because most people would decline to participate.