Following the tradition of the anonymous letters, 1769–1772
Redesigning societal systems so individual self-interest aligns with collective benefit. Making corruption mechanistically difficult, not relying on virtue.
— In the spirit of accountability without capture
The system isn't broken. It's working exactly as designed—for those who designed it.
What the historical Junius exposed in government, we expose in systems
Modern institutions allow individuals to optimize for themselves while appearing to serve the public. Accountability diffuses across systems until no one bears consequences. Decisions that kill, exploit, or harm are made by "the system"—never by people with names and liability.
Result: Tens of thousands die in wars decided by those who never serve. Regulatory capture protects industries over citizens. Public servants serve themselves. The corrupt prosper. The innocent suffer.
Redesign the systems themselves using five core principles that make corruption mechanistically difficult rather than merely illegal. These aren't rules people can break—they're structural features that change the game itself.
Stop trusting better people. Build better systems. Engineer accountability into the architecture.
Each design principle attacks one or more terms in this equation. The goal: make the equation impossible to satisfy.
Not ideology. Not partisanship. Mechanism design. These principles change the incentive structure itself, making corruption difficult by design rather than prohibition.
Every decision involving public resources or potential harm must trace to named individuals who bear personal liability. No more "the agency approved"—instead: "These seven people approved. Here are their names. Here is what happens to them if this causes harm." Public database of all consequential decisions with full attribution. Time-stamped, immutable records.
Those who decide must bear the consequences of their decisions. Vote for war? You serve, or your children serve. Approve a pharmaceutical? You take it. Approve a financial instrument? You hold it with your own money. Design a policy? Live under it. No externalization of risk by decision-makers.
All exercises of public power must be visible in real-time. Government contracts fully public and searchable. Official communications archived and accessible. Financial flows tracked from tax collection to expenditure. Lobbying: every meeting, every dollar, every ask. This is transparency of power, not surveillance of citizens. The asymmetry is intentional.
War and state violence must require active, ongoing, broad consent—not passive delegation. No standing authority for military action without continuous reauthorization. Direct citizen involvement in decisions to use force. Immediate, automatic sunset on any military engagement. Personal liability for those who authorize violence against innocents.
Replace captured career regulators with randomly selected citizens who have real power. Citizen juries with subpoena authority. Rotating oversight panels that cannot be lobbied in advance. Term limits measured in months, not years. Full investigative resources and legal immunity for oversight actions.
We need a new design.