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Many people find selecting a candidate for political office with 20-30% support to be deeply suboptimal. You're flirting with your government being perceived as

Many people find selecting a candidate for political office with 20-30% support to be deeply suboptimal. You're flirting with your government being perceived as illegitimate by regular citizens. At the national level these are incredibly powerful offices- imagine a divisive President ruling the US having won under 30% of votes cast. This is how civil wars start. Yes there are a few countries whose systems work out that way (the UK at times), and it's been criticized for decades. >what's unnatural is the idea that 50+% of a group This is literally how a runoff works- a pragmatic system that's been used for decades by 50+ countries globally. It also enhances democratic legitimacy, as the majority of people feel invested in having voted for the eventual winner. (To be fair, I will say that using AV to select the top two candidates who then go to a runoff is pretty interesting)

clairity 5y ago
what you're literally suggesting is that manufacturing consent is the righteous course. democracy shouldn't hinge on getting the vote 'right' or on the 'legitimacy' of a single elected representative. we're at a point in history, where we can instead have dozens/hundreds of representatives without much administrative burden via technology. plurality of perspective and expertise is what makes a society stronger, not a singular hegemony. the legitimacy of government emerges from the totality of its actions (and non-actions), not from cult of personality.
- Eelongate 5y ago
  The most important objective of a democracy should be the peaceful transition of power, facilitated by a perception of legitimacy and fairness. Anything else is secondary to that perception. Peaceful transitions of power are important foremost because political violence is abhorrent. Secondly, systems with established track records for peaceful transitions of power encourage people to feel confident about the future, which in turn encourages long term investment and robust economic growth.

clairity 5y ago

what you're literally suggesting is that manufacturing consent is the righteous course. democracy shouldn't hinge on getting the vote 'right' or on the 'legitimacy' of a single elected representative. we're at a point in history, where we can instead have dozens/hundreds of representatives without much administrative burden via technology. plurality of perspective and expertise is what makes a society stronger, not a singular hegemony. the legitimacy of government emerges from the totality of its actions (and non-actions), not from cult of personality.

Eelongate 5y ago
The most important objective of a democracy should be the peaceful transition of power, facilitated by a perception of legitimacy and fairness. Anything else is secondary to that perception. Peaceful transitions of power are important foremost because political violence is abhorrent. Secondly, systems with established track records for peaceful transitions of power encourage people to feel confident about the future, which in turn encourages long term investment and robust economic growth.