[EM] IRV-like Virtual districts

raphfrk at netscape.net raphfrk at netscape.net
Thu Dec 21 06:33:05 PST 2006


 From: jgilmour at globalnet.co.uk
 
 >Surely it doesn't matter whether you are electing a single chamber
  >legislature or two-chamber legislature?  Should the over-riding

>requirement not be for both chambers, e.g. House and Senate, to be

>properly representative of those who have voted in the two elections? 
 There are different forms of representation. Even in a single seat district system, the 
 representatives do represent the voters in their district. In each district the candidate 
 elected will be approx the median candidate.
 
 OTOH, PR will give each faction above a certain minimum threshold representation in the 
 legislature (due to a finite number of seats).
 
 The effect of a voter in the first case is to shift the median in their direction. and
 in the PR case, the voter is directly selecting a representative.
 
 If the resulting legislature uses majority rule as its basis for operation, then the 
 decisions of the legislature will be centerist in any case. 
 
 Having each district elect a centerist and then having a legislature results in there being
 2 focusings towards the centre of the resulting policy.
 
 Centerist isn't a specific policy, it means the median policy of the electorate.
 
 I am not entirely convinced that that is fair for something like spending tax money as 51% of the 
 legislature should not be allowed to spend 100% of the money, but that is a separate issue.
 
 
    Raphfrk
 --------------------
 Interesting site
 "what if anyone could modify the laws"
 
 www.wikocracy.com   
  
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