Thursday, June 11, 2009

How To Handle Public Officials - A lesson from the ancient Greeks

...Most officials in Athens were appointed by lot and for one year only. They did not serve an elected parliament but the whole citizen body (Athenian males over 18), meeting roughly every week in Assembly. This body was sovereign, deciding every course of state action. The same people also had total control over the courts. Each official had to report regularly to the people, and could be arraigned at any time. At the end of his term, the people subjected him to a full audit. Within 30 days of laying down office, he presented his financial accounts (public funds received and expended), which were checked against documents in the state archives. That test passed, a board heard any charges of general misconduct. There were penalties for breaking the law, taking bribes, embezzlement, and so on. Punishments could range from fines through exile to execution. It never stopped Athenians putting themselves forward...The Spectator

Apply this to today's Politically Superior Ones and they'd be shakin' like a hound dog shittin' a loggin' chain and expecting a hook any minute.

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