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Electoral democracy is in crisis. The use of sortition in our political systems could be a key to renewing and deepening democracy. But how to do so? And where to start? In this paper, I explore the idea that using sortition to address the problem of corruption could be a first step. Why? For two reasons. First, corruption of elected officials is an internal inconsistency of electoral democracy – it cannot be resolved adequately through electoral institutions. Second, there is also a large consensus on the fact – everybody agrees – that corruption is a problem. I suggest granting the power to convene an Investigation Commission to a randomly selected citizen body. This body should also nominate the Commission’s head and receive its recommendations. I also discuss the idea of a Citizens’ Court to directly address the problem of corruption of elected officials. This broad jury would judge and sanction corrupted elected officials. Taking Quebec’s ongoing corruption saga as an example, I also try to see how the system would work in reality and, finally, where the system, once put into place, could lead to.

This article was a university paper written by David Poulin-Litvak at the Ecole nationale d’administration publique in 2004. It has mainly a historical interest, in that it presents the first version of his political thought relative to sortition. In this paper, Poulin-Litvak suggests creating a “Citizens’ Assembly” endowed with the power to propose constitutional amendments to the people in referendum. This idea will become the cornerstone of his political thought on sortition, leading him to suggest a new type of regime, which he brands “citizens’ democracy”. Cet article etait initialement un travail universitaire ecrit par David Poulin-Litvak a l’Ecole nationale d’administration publique en 2004. Son interet est surtout historique, en ce qu’il presente le premier jalon de ce qui deviendra sa pensee politique relative a l’utilisation de la selection aleatoire en politique. Dans ce travail, l’auteur suggere de mettre en place une « Assemblee citoyenne » dotee du pouvoir de proposition referendaire en matiere constitutionnelle. Cette idee deviendra la pierre d’assise de sa pensee politique, et le fondement premier d’un nouveau type de regime qu’il baptise la « democratie citoyenne ».

A few authors have suggested re-introducing random selection in politics. In the United States, Callenbach and Phillips have proposed replacing the House of Representatives by a Representative House. In this article, the author suggests that perhaps, in the specific US context, it would be worthwhile considering replacing both Houses of Congress by randomly selected Houses.

In this article, Poulin-Litvak suggests a new constitutional framework for the UK. This model is his reply to Sutherland’s proposal expounded in A People’s Parliament. He suggests adding to the British Parliament a People’s House which would have final say on all legislative matters. The existing houses would propose and advocate law, but the People’s House would be the sole body voting on the bills. He also suggests that the prime minister be directly elected by the people via a “deliberative primary”. He suggests electoral systems for the PM, the Commons and the Lords, as well as a new type of voting system for the legislative process in the People’s House.

Felix Adler was the founder of the Ethical Culture Society. This short study analyses a New York Times article on a conference given by Adler in 1880 on the subject of social reform. In this conference, given at a time where there was no income tax in the United States, Adler proposed a graded tax on incomes in response to J.S. Mill’s flat tax proposal. However, Adler also pushed the logic of progressivity to its natural outcome and suggested an income cap, a tax-bracket at which the rate of taxation is 100 %. To my knowledge, this is the first documented proposal for an income cap, what is sometimes referred to nowadays as a “maximum wage”.

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a painful, often rapidly progressive, ulcerating skin disorder frequently associated with systemic diseases. We report the case of a patient with PG and an anemia. A bone marrow biopsy showed changes consistent with one of the myelodysplastic syndromes, refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts. Patients with PG and anemia should have bone marrow biopsy if no cause of anemia is readily apparent.