I’ve been trying to figure out what to toot about myself for the #FridayFacts prompt.

I have a longtime fascination with governance systems, particularly the most beaurocratic details of how different humans run things & I feel like most people don’t really realize that consultative and/or elective systems of governance are ancient, often predating monarchies. In every era of human history there have been cultures using systems that, while not modern, had recognizably democratic core aspects.

After all, imagine you & some friends are trying to decide where to get dinner. What’s more natural, that you 1) discuss it & go to the place the majority prefer, 2) choose 1-2 of your to decide for tonight & next time someone else picks, 3) one of you forcibly imposes their dinner preferences upon the others & then their children gain the exclusive right to pick where to get takeout for all time?

Americans are the most guilty of thinking of republicanism as a singular “discovery” that we came up with out of the blue, but it was commonplace in Europe at the time of the revolutionary war. The Icelandic Althing/parliament had been meeting continuously since 930. Poland had an elected king answerable to the parliamentary Sejm, with a written constitution! Most Italian city-states had been republics for centuries at this point.

And there were diverse consultative systems in use by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Hopefully none of this is completely new, but I just find it fascinating to explore how complex governing systems have been throughout human history & how even when survival is uncertain, we seem to always have enjoyed refining our system of committees & tabulators.