Tuesday, 18 September 2012

First past the post is not anarchy (the left can get in)

It could be argued that a one-party dictatorship is not hugely dissimilar to anarchy. Even in an anarchist society we can expect there would be courts and some form of justice system and police. So then if there is a one-party dictatorship this is a bit like anarchy apart from the fact that the courts are not arranged by consensus instead by dictat. The 'conservative' view might be that those who are in power have always been in power and it should remain so. Even without a state the conservative view remains the same.

If first past the post is similar to an anarchist one-party dictatorship with the party of the centre-right being the natural party of government then (if this point of view is valid) what we have is not too far from anarchy. Anarchists cannot complain if the 'conservative' party is in power because things would not be too much different if there is no state at all... so the argument goes. The flaw in this position (this defence of fptp) is that under fptp it is perfectly possible for the party of the centre-left to win. Because the party of the centre-left can win this makes fptp not like (a conservative form of) anarchy instead it becomes something very different.

If first past the post is not anarchy then proportional representation is preferable.

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