[EM] Declaration of Election-Method Experts and Enthusiasts

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Afternoon, Mr. Fobes

re: "I think that the listed benefits (of election-method reform)
      cover most of your "participation" principle ..."

The declaration presumes the right of political parties to select the 
candidates for public office, thereby preventing meaningful 
participation by the public.

Over two hundred years experience with party politics (should) have 
taught us that political parties transcend the will of the people. 
Parties are important for the principals: the party leaders, 
contributors, candidates and elected officials, but the significance 
diminishes rapidly as the distance from the center of power grows.  Most 
people are on the periphery, remote from the center of power.  As 
outsiders, they have little incentive to participate in the political 
process.  The flaws in party politics are disastrous and we ought not 
blind ourselves to the political causes of the devastation we're 
enduring, right now.

If the only purpose of the declaration is to break the hold of plurality 
it may be effective, but it offers no roadmap for those countries 
seeking an electoral method that gives their people meaningful 
participation in the political process.

Fred Gohlke