I feel like the statement "power has to go somewhere" ought to be justified. How does one calculate the power associated with a given election? How do we know that it's conserved across all possible versions of that election? I still feel like there's something missing here.
I like your argument for the electoral college, though I will note that proponents of fairness in California still won't be happy at how much *more* the system advances the political power of those in Wyoming -- the willingness to shoot yourself in the foot if it prevents your neighbor from getting more than you is a fundamental aspect of human psychology, as far as I can tell.
Another thing about the electoral college, now that I think of it -- doesn't it increase voter power but lower the stakes over which that power operates? You're basically getting a larger share of x/537 of the outcome for the presidency (or whatever) instead of a smaller share of the outcome for the presidency. Is this a good tradeoff? I'm not an expert in this, so forgive me if my questions are dim :).
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Date: 2006-10-25 01:04 pm (UTC)I feel like the statement "power has to go somewhere" ought to be justified. How does one calculate the power associated with a given election? How do we know that it's conserved across all possible versions of that election? I still feel like there's something missing here.
I like your argument for the electoral college, though I will note that proponents of fairness in California still won't be happy at how much *more* the system advances the political power of those in Wyoming -- the willingness to shoot yourself in the foot if it prevents your neighbor from getting more than you is a fundamental aspect of human psychology, as far as I can tell.
Another thing about the electoral college, now that I think of it -- doesn't it increase voter power but lower the stakes over which that power operates? You're basically getting a larger share of x/537 of the outcome for the presidency (or whatever) instead of a smaller share of the outcome for the presidency. Is this a good tradeoff? I'm not an expert in this, so forgive me if my questions are dim :).