Monday 10 December 2012

Democracy is good but fptp doesn't go far enough

In any democracy we are governed by the electorate which means that the voting system in use is the mechanism by which the individual is protected from the rest of the country. If the voting system is effective it makes it difficult for the electorate to be aggressive towards the individual. The best voting system is one which protects the individual from the electorate... which thwarts the electorate in attacking the individual. This protects individuals and minorities alike since minorities are protected if the individual is protected. The problem with fptp is that it tends to result in a two-party system which means that the individual is subject to one of the (socialist) mainstream parties. With pr even if the voters want to impose socialism on the country... the mechanism by which power is allocated makes this very difficult. Pr protects the voters from themselves by being inherently anarchistic. Fptp fails to do this... it provides 'big government' in the form of a two-party state. Democracy (and the state) gives people property rights but if the voting system is not fully proportional this mechanism is not able to function and people are left vulnerable to the state. Democracy is a force for good in civilising people and providing a framework whereby people can protect themselves from each other. But with fptp this framework breaks down. Democracy (and by extension government) is good because it provides property rights and freedoms but without pr this mechanism fails to operate properly.

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