Monday 18 November 2013

First past the post is temporary

We cannot have freedom without democracy because freedom without a state is impossible due to the absence of property rights and a state without democracy inevitably leads to tyranny. We cannot have freedom without a state and we cannot have freedom without a democratic state. But the first past the post (fptp) system of voting is not entirely democratic and tends to result in a two-party system as a result of the truth of Duverger’s law. Because of this we can say that fptp is not democratic and hence does not deliver as much freedom as is possible because it is like tyranny. To have the most possible freedom (necessarily within the context of a state) is to have proportional representation. If people are using the fptp system they will see that it tends to result in tactical voting and a two-party system but they will not like this naturally… otherwise it would not be called tactical voting. Since people do not like it they will want to change it and more and more people will come to prefer proportional representation and demand it of their elected officials. The fptp system is only temporary and will always be replaced with proportional representation wherever it (fptp) exists. People do not like fptp (by definition) and so then it is temporary and will be replaced.

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