Sunday 20 January 2013

First past the post should be illegal

There is no reason not to make first-past-the-post voting illegal. The problem with fptp is that (as a consequence of Duverger's law) it tends to result in the emergence of a two-party system which is an obstacle to the democratic rights of the people. If the people are given their full democratic rights they will be able to vote for whomever they like and have their vote counted equally. This is only possible if the system being used is proportional. If we do not use pr then people must consider which candidates other people will vote for and adjust their vote accordingly. This 'tactical' voting means that people are not getting what they want when they vote which means the society within which they live is not to their liking. If people have full democracy we can assume that the world they live in will be the closest to that which they want. Fptp is needlessly harmful to the people who use it. There is no reason to have fptp so it should be illegal.

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