[EM] approval voting and majority criterion

[James Green-Armytage]

I wrote:
>>majority criterion: If a majority of the voters prefers all of the
>members
>>of a given set of candidates over all candidates outside that set, and
>>they vote sincerely, then the winning candidate should come from that
>set.
>>

Ken Johnson wrote:
>
>James - Can you elucidate why this should be a required criterion?

	Sure. Look at it this way. Let's say that 55% of an electorate are to the
left of the center, and 45% are to the right of center. If a method goes
ahead and elects a right of center candidate anyway, then we know
something has gone wrong. Plurality is problematic for this reason, and so
is approval. 
	The goal of single winner voting is majority rule. While majority rule is
fraught with dangers and paradoxes, it is axiomatically preferable to
minority rule. Given two groups of different size with irreconcilable
opinions on a given issue, any value-neutral decision-making rule must
logically chose to execute the wishes of the larger group.

James