[457] in libertarians
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (castillo@media.mit.edu)
Tue Dec 6 13:09:31 1994
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 94 13:05:25 -0500
From: castillo@media.mit.edu
>>1) proportional representation: if the Republicans receive 45% of the
>>vote, the Dems get 45%, the Libs get 8%, and the Greens get 2%, then
>>the represenative body is made up of 45% Reps, 45% Dems, etc. This
>>system is used in many of the democracies of Western Europe. It
>>hasn't led to a libertarian Utopia, but it is still an interesting
>>system...
>
>It is also what is used in Israel, and is what leads to those insane
>coalition governments. It would mean the Democrats would make
>coalitions with the Communists and Socialists, the Republicans with
>Libertarians and United We Stand, etc. Potentially ugly.
This only happens because Israel, like most of Europe and Canada, has a
parliament. The need to maintain a majority (to sustain a vote of
confidence) is what drives the odd coalition partnerships. It also
sometimes leads to tiny radical parties with a handful of seats being in
a position to make or break a government. Since we elect the president
(more or less) directly in the US, this wouldn't be a problem.
With the advances made possible by electronic communications it might be
possible to allocate individual Senate and House seats on a proportional
basis. If the results for Massachusetts are 59% Democrat, 38%
Republican and 3% Libertarian then we would have 3 senators with 0.59,
0.38 and 0.03 of a vote respectively. A lower limit (2%) could be used
to keep out the lunatic fringe. Nationally this could mean an overall
vote strength of 1-2 senators for the libertarians, and a much greater
reason for people to vote.
"make lots of money", "enjoy the work", "operate within the law": choose 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Anderson | "It's difficult to work in a group when
castillo@media-lab.media.mit.edu | you're omnipotent." - Q, ST-tng "Deja-Q"
