- 28 Feb 2008 17:21
#1463816
People are always complaining about how our political system is bipartisan. However, if you think about the way our voting works, there really is no alternate solution.
Let's say for example, that we have a country in which there 7 people. Three canditates enter the race, two of which tend to lean left, and one who leans right. We'll call them A, B, and C. Now, four of our voters lean left, and three of them lean right. Among the voters who lean left, half of them support Candidate A, and half of them support Candidate B. So, if we simulate the election, we achieve the following result:
Candidate A: two votes
Candidate B: two votes
Candiate C: three votes
meaning that candidate C would win, even though there are four left wing voters as opposed to only three right wing voters. Thus, to avoid this situation, the left wing voters will attempt to unite their votes behind one candidate: meaning, they'll have a primary election, and then support the winner with all of their votes. If they select amongst themselves that they prefer Candidate A, then all four of them will vote for that candidate, and thus trump the support of Candidate C.
Thus, in a voting model where every voter casts one vote for one person, and in a political model where people tend to lean either one way or the other on the issues, having a bipartisan system is the natural result of politicans and voters serving their self interests.
What do you guys think, and how can we redesign the voting model so as to avoid this problem?
Let's say for example, that we have a country in which there 7 people. Three canditates enter the race, two of which tend to lean left, and one who leans right. We'll call them A, B, and C. Now, four of our voters lean left, and three of them lean right. Among the voters who lean left, half of them support Candidate A, and half of them support Candidate B. So, if we simulate the election, we achieve the following result:
Candidate A: two votes
Candidate B: two votes
Candiate C: three votes
meaning that candidate C would win, even though there are four left wing voters as opposed to only three right wing voters. Thus, to avoid this situation, the left wing voters will attempt to unite their votes behind one candidate: meaning, they'll have a primary election, and then support the winner with all of their votes. If they select amongst themselves that they prefer Candidate A, then all four of them will vote for that candidate, and thus trump the support of Candidate C.
Thus, in a voting model where every voter casts one vote for one person, and in a political model where people tend to lean either one way or the other on the issues, having a bipartisan system is the natural result of politicans and voters serving their self interests.
What do you guys think, and how can we redesign the voting model so as to avoid this problem?
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