[EM] Why the concept of "sincere" votes in Range is flawed.

[Juho Laatu]

--- On Mon, 26/1/09, James Gilmour <jgilmour at globalnet.co.uk> wrote:

> > On Jan 25, 2009, at 12:40 AM, Juho Laatu wrote:
> > > What I mean is that it may quite OK
> > > to assume that people are able to
> > > find some preference order when
> > > voting. And therefore we can force
> > > them to do so.
> 
> How can any such coercion be compatible with participation
> in a democracy?  It is surely an infringement of my human
> rights to force
> me to express "preferences" I do not have.  As a
> prisoner, I might confess to almost anything under torture
> (I don't know - I have
> never been tested, thank goodness), but I thought this was
> about voting in public elections in a democracy?

OK, we should not tell them that we aim
at "forcing them to think who is best".
We should probably tell them instead
that we value their opinions that they
surely have. That way they may generate
their opinions happily. Actually I think
this is not more serious than the well
known current problem of some people not
bothering to vote, maybe because they
don't want to spend time thinking who
would be the best candidates. Also the
restaurant example may require some
heavy thinking on what to eat today,
but people don't complain (except
maybe to the person who thinks too
long :-) ).

What I mean is that decision making
is such a natural part of everyday
life that people are very used to
that. Often they even enjoy making
decisions (e.g. when shopping, or
as big managers).

Juho