[EM] Proxy - bicameral

[Dr.Ernie Prabhakar]

On May 17, 2004, at 11:14 PM, James Green-Armytage wrote:
> "Dr. Ernie Prabhakar" <drernie at radicalcentrism.org> writes:
>> For example, it seems to me that Robert's Rules explicitly require or
>> assume a one-person/one-vote Plurality type of decision-making, and it
>> thus (naively) inconsistent with rank-order voting.  Is that a fair
>> assessment?  Further, that sort of winner-take-all result seems to 
>> lead
>> to a sort of Duverger's effect on committees.
>
> 	I suggest that any legislative body is free to take a non-binding 
> ranked
> vote on multiple options, tally it using pairwise comparisons, and 
> then do
> a traditional up-down vote on the Condorcet winner if one exists. I 
> can't
> imagine there being any serious legal barriers to such a practice.

You're right, though that feels a bit cumbersome.  More importantly, I 
think there are non-trivial procedural barriers.   From what I 
remember, everything in Robert's Rules is based on a majority decision. 
  That very need to form a majority is what can lead to unhealthy 
coalitions.   Brian may be willing to take that risk, but I think we 
need to address it to make this a serious proposal - otherwise those 
opposed will have a legitimate issue to hold against us.

I think Brian's example of slashdot is an interesting analogy, but 
again I don't know if it hits the heart of the issue.  Slashdot is 
about ranking *topics* - semi-static articles.   I'm talking about 
changing the rules of human discussion, which is largely about 
personalities and relationships.

I'm sure there's a way, but as I implied before, I think solving this 
problem requires as much consideration and thought as the more formal 
aspects of electoral reform, and that those of us interested in true 
political reform (vs. mere mathematical analysis) need to face up to 
that.

-- Ernie P.

-----------
Ernest N. Prabhakar, Ph.D. <DrErnie at RadicalCentrism.org>
RadicalCentrism.org is an anti-partisan think tank near Sacramento, 
California, dedicated to developing and promoting the ideals of 
Reality, Character, Community and Humility as expressed in our Radical 
Centrist Manifesto: Ground Rules of Civil Society 
<http://RadicalCentrism.org/manifesto.html>