Why should it be limited to the politicians ?

That would help democratic decision making at the citizen level, too.

And the random "Homeless" assignment would drive home the point that a society should be judged by the way it treats the worse off.

Ahh, Maoism...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

It has been done-at least for a week:

Matthew Parris on living on benefit

But, though it wouldn't be true to say he learned nothing, he seems to have interpreted it pretty much through the lens of his existing beliefs.

[Murdoch alert.  Murdoch columnist alert]

I think it was the Romans who had the tradition that for one day of the year, the slave-owner and household slaves exchanged places. For some Roman nobles, that turned out to be a rather sobering experience. I think I remember a story about one slave-owner who was castrated by his slaves on their day off because he had a habit of raping his female slaves (I think he did something suitably nasty to the slaves the next day when things were back to normal, though).

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.