[EM] A design flaw in the electoral system

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Morning, James

I, too, am not completely clear on Michael's meaning.  When a choice is 
made by counting votes, your notion that each vote has an effect seems 
intuitively obvious.  However, the effectiveness of each vote is less 
clear.  One expression of the problem was written by Daniel R. Ortiz in 
The Paradox of Mass Democracy:

   "Democracy's three necessary conditions increasingly and
    embarrassingly conflict.  For perfectly understandable
    reasons, the more we broaden and equalize political
    participation, the more difficult we make individual
    political choice.  In other words, there is some tradeoff
    between the quantity and quality of individual political
    engagement." p. 211, Rethinking The Vote, Oxford University
    Press, 2004

Thus, voting in the real world becomes - as Michael says - meaningless. 
  We must look deeper.

The most fundamental element of politics is that issues arise in the 
body politic.  Although individuals and groups can instigate issues, 
they cannot prevent their inception.  That is to say, issues are 
independent of any individual or group; they are a matter of the people.

Current political practice allows groups to 'interpret' public issues 
and offer options for their resolution.  Such a process is inherently 
flawed because the groups that 'interpret' the issues offer options that 
favor their interest.  The result is perpetual confrontation between 
groups seeking advantages.

We can do better than that.

Fred Gohlke