[Election-Methods] Partisan Politics

[Juho]

On May 4, 2008, at 19:10 , Fred Gohlke wrote:

> Good Morning, Juho
>
> re: "... I'm more inclined to see the parties still as units that  
> still get their strength and mandate to rule from the citizens  
> themselves (and from their lack of interest to make the parties  
> better and control them better)."
>
> Although I (obviously) don't share your view, I will agree that the  
> parties get their strength from the subset of the electorate that  
> supports them.  My dissent is based on (1) the fact that the so- 
> called 'mandate' comes from a tiny subset of the electorate, (2)  
> the 'mandate' results in destruction of the separation of powers  
> intended to protect us from improper concentrations of political  
> influence, and (3) it is maintained by the absolute suppression of  
> alternatives.  Instead of democracy, a tiny minority of the people  
> provide the "strength and mandate to rule" that dictates the  
> choices available to the rest of us.

I guess different countries are in quite different position here. The  
change / improvements may come different ways, in regular elections,  
by mass movements, even by revolutions in the worst case.

> re: "Strong emphasis on the regional representation and close  
> contacts between the representatives and voters may to some extent  
> also reduce the need to offer full political proportionality."
>
> We should consider the possibility that focusing on 'regional  
> representation' and 'proportionality' are misleading.  An electoral  
> method that empowers each and every member of the electorate to the  
> extent of their desire and ability is regional and proportional, by  
> definition.

Methods that involve people at root level (like your "groups of  
three" based method) typically are regionally oriented. They need not  
necessarily be geographically regional here but can also be based on  
other proximity criteria / groupings like political, religious, work,  
ethnic or hobby/interest/philosophical groups.

I already commented earlier that the "groups of three" based method  
that you have studied does not implement proportionality in the  
traditional way. Large parties (or whatever opinion camps) tend to  
get more representatives to the higher layers (more than their  
proportional size is).

Juho

> Fred
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