I seem to remember voting for Ron Paul in the 2008 primaries. And for the general election, there were more choices than the two you mention. Instant runoffs a

I seem to remember voting for Ron Paul in the 2008 primaries. And for the general election, there were more choices than the two you mention. Instant runoffs are only marginally better than the American "first-past-the-post" system. In particular, they suffer from the perverse effect where voting for your favorite candidate can actually cause him to lose. There's a mathematical proof (Ken Arrows, maybe? I'm getting forgetful) showing that it's impossible for any voting system to have all the handful of qualities one wants in a democratic process. This is actually a pretty decent branch of mathematics. There exist better options, but none that are perfect.