[EM] Why study only public election proposals?

[James Gilmour]

> Simmons, Forest Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 12:51 AM
> There are many uses for election methods besides public 
> election proposals.  They are used in various sports 
> contexts, pattern recognition software, search engines, etc.  
>   Cross fertilization between disciplines is one of the 
> greatest stimulants of progress.  When the Cartesian 
> coordinate system was recognized as a bridge between algebra 
> and geometry the resulting cross fertilization prepared the 
> way for both subjects to flourish as never before.
> 
> Moral:
> 
> If you want to stay in your tiny little public proposal 
> world, that's fine, but don't expect everybody else to limit 
> themselves to your provincial point of view.

This is truly amazing statement, given that its was leaders and legislatures elected by defective voting systems that
took our countries to war, causing the loss of tens of thousands of innocent lives and misery for millions that will
continue for many years.  (My country has been made a much more dangerous place by that decision.)

Add to that, the myriad of lesser, but life-affecting, decisions that are made daily by state and city leaders and
legislatures and councils that are unrepresentative of the communities they are elected to serve (again, because of the
defective voting systems used for those public elections) and I think the use of voting systems in sports, etc, pales
into insignificance.

Of course, insights from any quarter are to be welcomed, but in taking forward practical reform of voting systems it
helps to have a sense of priority.

James Gilmour