[EM] Experiments with the spoiler effect

[Alex Small]

> than the pro-change side. So what we need to do is to start on smaller
> levels. Get people interested in the principles, let people bring them
> into play in smaller organizations, on local levels, to see how they
> work. And if people have a positive experience, if enough people around
> the country have a positive experience with alternative voting methods,
> only then would a national movement to change the presidential system be
> possible.

Good points.  Your points about starting on a small scale reminds me of
points I have frequently made in a different forum.  Since they relate to
the spoiler issue I'll recite them here, even though it's somewhat
partisan.

I am a libertarian who thinks Democrats are the lesser evil.  Right now,
Libertarian candidates are very good at spoiling Republicans.  This hasn't
caused the GOP to embrace election reform, but it has gotten a lot of
otherwise sympathetic conservatives angry at the Libertarian Party.  I
believe that it's important for Libertarian candidates to spoil Democrats
as well.  Some might say it's impossible, but that's only true if
Libertarians talk about taxes and guns.  If they talk about free speech
and privacy, the way that "law and order" politicians use the Drug War to
go after ethnic minorities, and the ways that big corporations often use
regulations to squelch small competitors, some (but obviously not all)
people who vote for Democrats as the lesser evil might consider voting
Libertarian.

I'd love to see some Libertarian candidates spoil Democrats for several
reasons:

1)  It would give Libertarians some clout against both parties.  Both
parties would realize that there's a minor party out there that can hurt
them.
2)  It would broaden the LP's base of support to include people who
consider Democrats the lesser evil
3)  It might actually help the LP with its conservative base since they'd
see that the LP is hurting Democrats as well
4)  A serious and sustained spoiler threat that hurts both parties MIGHT
(just MIGHT) prompt a handful of Republocrats to support alternative
election methods
5)  Even if the spoiler threat doesn't get the Republocrats to consider
election reform, if LP candidates with a broader base of support
frequently manage to poll 10% or more it might cause some people to
scratch their heads and realize that there's a significant constituency
out there that won't be represented as long as we stick to plurality
voting and single-member districts.

Maybe it's just a pipe dream, but there is a state chapter of the LP
(Oregon?  Washington?  can't recall which) that's using spoiler threats to
try to persuade Republican legislators to vote against tax increases. 
Imagine if a state chapter of the LP threatened to spoil Republicans who
voted for tax increases and threatened to spoil Democrats who vote for,
say, escalating the Drug War.  Or some other issue where Libertarians can
agree with Democrat-leaning constituencies.  (My own personal issue is the
ways that zoning drives up the cost of housing for low-income families,
seeing as how my wife and I live in California with my grad student salary
and her bookstore salary.)

Anyway, I think state-level experiments with the spoiler effect are more
likely to bring about changes in election methods than Presidential
campaigns.



Alex Small