[EM] plurality isn't so bad

rob brown rob at karmatics.com
Thu Dec 22 15:35:42 PST 2005


Lincoln....hmmm.

He was an incredibly polarizing figure at the time he was elected.  The
southern states were so angry he got elected that they seceded from the
union as a direct result.  Over the next 4 years half a million people
died.  There was obviously a lot more to the civil war than that one
election, but most of the differences between northern and southern states
could very likely have been resolved peacefully (in the many years leading
up to the civil war) if the election system was designed to find compromise
and broad support, rather than amplifying and reinforcing differences as
plurality does.

Plurality polarizes people.  It forces people into two opposing factions,
even if those factions didn't exist in the first place.  If the factions
already exist, it reinforces them.

Sorry, but it most certainly is "so bad".
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