Sunday 9 June 2013

Proportionality leads to liberalism

First past the post enables the government to ignore the voter because only votes cast for the major parties have an influence. With proportional representation the government is forced to 'listen' to the people because power is allocated directly in accordance to the number of votes. Proportional representation can generally be achieved if there are numerous representatives in each seat. The problem of fptp arises when there is only one winner and so then tactical considerations arise. There is a close analogy between the government and a court of law. In either case legal force is being used. So then if the government has the power of a court judge (over the people) then we can think of an election as the means by which the people are able to refute the accusations of the judge. The people are able to protect themselves from the government with democracy. If there is less democracy (by extension) the people are less able to protect themselves from the false accusations of the government. The people are more vulnerable to the state if there is less democracy which is why democracy leads to liberalism. First past the post is less liberal because it is less democratic. If the government listens to the people as it must do with a more proportional system then there will be less government and more liberalism. Democracy forces the government to listen to the people.

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