Tyranny of the Majority

[Forest Simmons]

On Sat, 5 May 2001 DEMOREP1 at aol.com wrote:

> Mr. Simmons wrote--
> 
> When the only information available is simple preference, then majority
> rule would be the only democratic choice. But that's not the context of
> the posting to which Demorep replied below.
> 
> Suppose that you know strength of preferences:
> 
> 51 A > B >> C
> 49 B > C >> A
> 
> The majority choice is A.
> 
> The Approval choice is B with 100% approval.
> ---
> D- I note that the example has 51 A > B, NOT 51 A = B.
> 
> The example could also be ---
> 
> 2 A > B >> C
> 1 B > C >> A
> 
> Is 2 still more than 1 ??? 
> 
> Or has a new age of Alice in Wonderland math happened that I have not heard 
> about ???
> 
> 

Two is more than one, but three is more than two.

In this case three is one hundred percent of the voters, so this game of
"who can name the biggest number" comes to an end.

Seriously, don't you think a candidate who is approved by 100 percent of
the voters is more likely to reconcile the interests of both factions
better than a candidate who is loved by one faction and hated by the
other?

I believe that when strong consensus candidates (exist and) win, on the
whole they serve the interests of democracy better than those candidates
that tend to polarize the electorate into gloating and resentful winners
and losers, respectively. 

Respectfully,

Forest