[EM] Student government - what voting system to recommend?

[Howard Swerdfeger]

Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
> At 03:56 PM 4/24/2007, Juho wrote:
>> On Apr 24, 2007, at 1:51 , Howard Swerdfeger wrote:
>>> 4) The ultimate form of democracy is one that
>>>  * maximizes voter knowledge of issues
>>>  * seeks to Involve the voters at every stage of decision making
>>> process   (direction, Discussion/deliberation, Vote)
>> Agreed. These are some very key principles that make a democratic
>> system work well.
> 
> Actually, while this is a common opinion, it is utterly impossible on 
> a large scale. It doesn't even work that way in fairly small direct 
> democracies.

I agree it doesn't work that way currently, at least not entirely. I 
however, disagree with your assertion that it is impossible.
I think it is possible for the vast majority of people to reason through 
arguments and choose the best action (according to some optimization 
function) when presented with all the evidence.

I also think with mass media (TV, radio, etc) and direct voter to voter 
communication (email, web, message boards, etc) it is possible to 
disseminate information to the vast majority of the population.

Neither do we need to jump from our current state to a fully informed 
population. But rather make modest system changes that will move the 
population in that direction.


> 
> To me, the key element in democracy is consent. Ideally, informed 
> consent, but that isn't always possible.
> 
> Think about it. I'm tired of repeating this stuff over and over, 
> besides, it's late and I have jury duty tomorrow. Somebody else can 
> explain it, if necessary.

Jury Duty: an example of a sample of the population being trusted to 
make decisions after being informed of all the facts, evidence, and 
expert opinion involved.


> 
> 
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