[EM] Russ, 4/6/05, 2232

[Russ Paielli]

I figured you'd have a rationalization for ignoring majorities. So did 
Stalin.

MIKE OSSIPOFF nkklrp-at-hotmail.com |EMlist| wrote:
> 
> Russ says:
> 
> That's all well and good, but you can't hide from the fact that when you
> drop a pairwise defeat you are ignoring the majority of voters who voted
> in that particular pairwise race. That's right: you are IGNORING THE
> MAJORITY of the voters in that race. Why do you have such little respect
> for majorities, and what gives you the right to overrule them?
> 
> I reply:
> 
> If it would make you feel any better, elect the entire circular tie. 
> Someone recently suggested that, in polls, we should declare the entire 
> Schwartz set as winners. I agreed. And also in organizations and 
> governments that are willing to have a joint presidency.
> 
> Then, at least if the public collectively  say that X is better than Y, 
> you aren't electing Y but not X.
> 
> But, you see, the problem is that sometimes it really is necessary to 
> elect just one.
> 
> Your strongly-felt concern is expressed in a way that suggests that you 
> thought that you were saying something original. As if you had never 
> seen my standard speech comparing wv and margins with regard to the 
> ethics and fairness of overruling public pairwise choices. Perhaps you 
> didn't read that paragraph before posting it at your website.
> 
> I always say that, if everyone has a pairwise defeat, and we have to 
> elect just one person anyway, then that means that we have to elect some 
> X, and not Y, when the public has said that Y is better than X. I always 
> then say that that means that we're overruling a voted public choice, 
> and I always say that we shouldn't do that lightly. That's why we should 
> try to minimize the number of voters we're doing that to. WV looks at 
> that number. That's one reason why wv is better than margins, but there 
> are other reasons to, such as the strategy guarantees that wv offers.
> 
> Mike Ossipoff
> 
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