What if Greece went back to democracy?
Greece, which claims to be the cradle of democracy, used to have a king.
The Greek constitution established the King as senior to the Prime Minister and the Parliament, which has 300 members. Effectively, the King and his family functioned as overseers of the government. But they were corrupt. In 1973, with a military junta in power, a referendum was held and the monarch was abolished.
In the aftermath, those in power didn’t think of replacing the Office of the King by an Upper Chamber in the Parliament, as is customary in Parliamentary systems. And in 1974, when the junta fell, the 300 members of Parliament were freed, from the king and military. And suddenly, there was not one king but 300 kings. They voted themselves immunity and became untouchable.
This system persisted until 2011, when Greece, facing default on a sovereign debt of hundreds of billions of dollars, had to be bailed out by Europe and the International Monetary Fund. The default was the product of overspending, kickbacks, and in some cases theft by elected officials. But little action could be taken against those officials—they had voted themselves immunity.
Here is where our story—an idea of what might have happened and still might happen in Greece—begins.
After the debt crisis, the people complained enough to force the 300 to hold a referendum on creating an upper chamber, which would have 2,000 members, who would be chosen by lottery. The new upper house would be senior to the 300 and have the final word.
As part of the new system, a committee was formed, the National Selections Committee, to organize the process for selecting the 2000 and then executing the plan. The country had been divided into 2,000 districts.
Three persons from each district were selected through lottery, with two being alternates in case the main winner could not serve his term. The terms were for four years and the selections of Citizens were to take place two years after elections, which were also every four years. To participate in the lottery process, you had to have a high school diploma and to have voted in all national elections in the last eight years. After long anticipation, the lottery had taken place and the people were now waiting for the results.
What would happen? Our story answers that question through the eyes of the Skouros family: Mr. Vangelis Skouros, an attorney; his wife, Mrs. Koula Skouros, a high school mathematics teacher; and their daughter, Eleni, a university student planning to become a medical doctor.
It was around 7:30 one evening and Eleni was sitting on a couch in the living room of the family house in the town of Thebes, 100 miles north of Athens. Eleni was in her last year of school and studying for her final exams, while her mother, who had come home from work about an hour earlier, was in the kitchen preparing dinner. They were waiting for the father, who normally came home around 8:30 pm.
There was a knock on the door. “We are not expecting anyone” Koula Skouros said, as Yanos, the family dog rushed to the front door barking.
The mother came out of the kitchen and walked to the door, and asked loudly “Who is it?”.
“This is Officer Poulos, from the Police Department” the person at the door responded and Koula stopped, as Eleni rushed to the door to join her mother. They both look at each other in apprehension.
“Is this the Skouros family house?” Officer Poulos asked.
“It is”, the mother responded as she looked through the peephole to see who was there. Then she added anxiously, “What is it?”
“We have some good news for you” Officer Poulos responded.
With that, Koula opened the door for Officer Poulos and a young lady dressed in civilian clothing, who was accompanying.
“You frightened us” Mrs. Skouros said and after shaking their hands with the visitors. “I was expecting that something bad has happened”.
“Oh! No” Officer Poulos replied smiling, and added, “Are you Mrs. Koula Skouros, a high school Mathematics teacher?”
“Yes, I am” Mrs. Skouros replied
“Well, Ms. Pappas here has some very good news for you”, and he then turned to the young lady.
“I am from the National Selection Committee, and I am here to inform you that you have been selected through the lottery selection process as a member of the new Chamber of Citizens” Ms. Pappas said, handing her a large envelope.
“Are you sure that it is for me and not my husband who is a lawyer?” asked Mrs. Skouros.
“It is you and not your husband,” Ms. Pappas said.
“But I know nothing about Politics” Mrs. Skouros said. “Could I transfer the membership to my Husband?”
Eleni, who had followed the parliamentary debates that resulted in the introduction of the Chamber of Citizens and understood her mother’s anxiety, looked at the visitors and told them “Don’t worry, my mother has been taken by surprise and she will be okay – she will accept the membership.”
Officer Poulos said that all the information they needed was in the envelope, including a phone number to call if Mrs. Skouros had any questions. Ms. Pappas then asked Mrs. Skouros to sign receipt of the envelope, and the cop and the National Selection Committee member left.
Eleni and her mother walked to the kitchen followed by the dog who was wagging his tail and sat at the kitchen table in silence trying to digest what had happened. Mother and daughter were fully aware of the changes that had taken place in the government system of their country, but had not expected to be directly involved with the new system.
“Let’s finish preparing dinner and discuss this matter with your father,” Mrs. Skouros told Eleni
Mr. Skouros came home a short while later and over dinner, Eleni and her mother explained to the father what had happened. They then opened the envelope. Mr. Skouros, after reading the enclosed letter, explained what his wife would not have to do.
This was the first slate of the Chamber of Citizens and because there was no chamber large enough to accommodate the 2,000 Citizens, the government had leased a large theater in the heart of Athens which would serve as the assembly venue until the new Parliament was completed. This theater would accommodate the Lower Chamber of 300 delegates and the Upper Chamber of 2,000 Citizens. The Official opening of the Upper Chamber would be on the third Monday of January.
“Is there enough time to get ready for this?” Mrs. Skouros asked
“It is early May” Mr. Skouros said. Eleni interjected: “Ma, there are seven months until January and the Selection Committee must have made plans for the preparation”.
“What about my students?” Mrs. Skouros asked
“When you had broken your hip and were bedridden for two months someone else took care of them and the same will happen now,” Mr. Skouros assured her
“And what about my job?” Mrs. Skouros asked.
“Koula, please don’t panic” Mr. Skouros said. She and the other citizens would keep their jobs. For every day they would participate in the affairs of the Upper Chamber, they would be paid a per diem amount equal to that of the elected officials, plus one Euro, indicating that they are senior to those elected. If they owned a business and their presence was essential to their business, the Selection Committee would then choose one of two alternates. As part of the new Parliament, a new hotel would be built with enough rooms to accommodate the 2,000 Citizens, but not the members of the Lower Chamber.
The next seven months went fast. On the second Monday of January, Mr. Skouros and Eleni drove Mrs. Skouros to Athens, and left with the promise to come back a month later to bring her back home.
During the next week, the Citizens attended meetings for most of the day with lunch and coffee breaks and listened to experts explain what was expected from them. On the third Monday of January, there was the official opening of the assembly of Citizens
For the next month, the Citizens would stay in Athens, do considerable work. They would elect the President of the Upper Chamber and nine Vice Presidents to lead the Ministries of Commerce, Maritime, Finance, Defense, Justice, Education, Health, Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs. The Upper Chamber voted on the laws drafted by the Lower Chamber, and suggested new laws of its own.
From that point on, the Citizens would return to Athens for two weeks every two months. There was a possibility that the Upper Chamber could decide to make some Citizens full-time for the term of their service. They also were expected to come to Athens on short notice if the 300 members of the Parliament needed their participation. Government officials would pick them up from their homes and bring them to Athens.
On the last Friday of February, the assembly of Citizens ended its first session. They were expected to go back to their homes until the next session would begin two months later. On that Friday, Mr. Skouros and Eleni drove to Athens to pick up Mrs. Skouros. The police had cleared all the streets around the hotel of the Citizens so that taxis, private cars and coaches would pick up Citizens. Mr. Skouros had parked the car across the hotel when Mrs. Skouros appeared.
“How was it, Ma?” Eleni asked
“Most interesting” Mrs. Skouros replied and added “Because I am the only teacher, they chose me as VP responsible for the Ministry of Education”
“That is very nice. You have a lot of homework now until the next assembly meeting” Mr. Skouros said
“Why?” Eleni asked
“I must learn how the Ministry of Education functions if I am to offer advice,” Mrs. Skouros said as Mr. Skouros started the car moving.
And as Mrs. Skouros looked back, she said, “I like this experience”, and added “Hopefully we, the Citizens, will be able to fix this broken system.”
