[EM] affects of IRR(V) and meaning of democracy

[Dr.Ernie Prabhakar]

Hi Dave,

On Sep 20, 2004, at 11:51 PM, Dave Ketchum wrote:

>> . Nominating more than one
>> candidate would mean splitting the available campaign funding,
>> plus it would make it more difficult for voters to become
>> familiar with all the different candidates and decide which
>> ones they prefer and in what order.

> Goals:
>     Good to let a party nominate more than one candidate, for you can 
> then do away with primaries.  Also need to allow nominations outside 
> the party system for starting new parties and responding to dissension 
> within parties.

With you so far.

>     Need to limit candidates to a quantity for which campaigning is 
> affordable and for which it is practical for voters to evaluate 
> candidates.

I disagree. The need to consolidate funding may be in the interest of 
the *party*, but (in a non-plurality voting system) I don't see how it 
is in the interest of the public.  Why should the public pay for that?  
Why not have each party do their own thinning, using direct mail or a  
web survey or whatever?  That way, candidates who lose the "primary" 
could still legitimately run in the general election, and only be 
challenging the party machinery rather than "the will of the people."

And, the issue of confusing voters is way overrated.  Its hard to 
imagine a wackier situation than the rushed, unscheduled recall we had 
in California with 135 candidates.   But, everyone who cared soon knew 
there were only five or six  candidates worth worrying about.  Yeah, 
voting on the huge form was a pain, but a minor one.   Not worth any 
sort of artificial constraints.

I agree we need to be sensitive to needs of voters, but I also don't 
want to condescend.   My belief is that people have a hard time 
following politics not because they aren't smart, but because they 
don't care.  If you successfully engage people's emotions and passions 
-- and make it easy for them to do the right thing --- they'll be 
willing to engage their minds.  Just ask Joe Six-Pack how far his team 
is from the playoffs.

-- Ernie P.
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Ernest N. Prabhakar, Ph.D. <DrErnie at RadicalCentrism.org>
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