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Democracy: Theory and Practice
Amid all the scaremongering about a nailbitingly close election with a disputed outcome, it is worth observing that if you really believe in democracy, and if the election is close, then it doesn't much matter who wins. The theory of democracy (stripped down to bare essentials, and omitting all sorts of caveats that I could list but won't) is that the guy who gets more votes is the better guy. Surely, then, it follows that the guy who gets only slightly more votes is only the slightly better guy. And if one guy's only slightly better than the other, then a miscount is no great tragedy.
You might have a strong preference for one candidate over the other, but if you have an overriding preference for democracy ("Let the majority rule, even when I'm in the minority"), then you can stop worrying about miscounts. Surely there's not much difference between a world where Bush gets 3 more votes than Kerry and a world where Kerry gets 3 more votes than Bush. If Bush is the rightful president in one of those worlds, he's got to be darn close to rightful in the other.
Posted by Steve Landsburg on October 25, 2004 at 04:59 PM in Current Affairs, Political Science | Permalink
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» Marginal Revolution: Democracy: Theory and Practice from Emergent Chaos
Steven Landsburg makes a very entertaining point about democracy: ...It is worth observing that if you really believe in democracy, and if the election is close, then it doesn't much matter who wins. The theory of democracy (stripped down... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 25, 2004 5:50:55 PM
» Close Enough for Government Work from WindyPundit
Steve Landsburg points out that a miscount in the upcoming election wouldn't be the disaster that some people want us to think it would be. I felt exactly the same way last time. No matter which candidate you think won the election, the worst case is t... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 25, 2004 6:11:30 PM
» Oh Ye of Little Faith! from Foreign Dispatches
When it comes down to it, hardly anyone really believes in democracy, at least not in the sense pointed out by Steven Landsburg. Despite all the rhetoric eternally bandied about wrt the "wisdom of the people", rare is the partisan [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 25, 2004 7:27:47 PM
» Marginal Concept from City Comforts Blog
Another peculiar rationale for not voting:: Surely there's not much difference between a world where Bush gets 3 more votes than Kerry and a world where Kerry gets 3 more votes than Bush. If Bush is the rightful president in one of those worlds, he's g... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 26, 2004 12:50:58 AM
» Democracy from Signifying Nothing
Steve Landburg, guest blogging at Marginal Revolution, writes: Amid all the scaremongering about a nailbitingly close election with a disputed outcome, it is worth observing that if you really believe in democracy, and if the election is close, then it... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 29, 2004 10:19:20 PM
» Does Who Wins Matter? from voluntaryXchange
If Kerry wins, he'll be a Bush clone. The real question is Bush a good president who Kerry will emulate, or a dolt who Kerry will emulate. This is what I get after digesting Landsburg's post at Marginal Revolution entitled [Read More]
Tracked on Nov 2, 2004 3:56:02 PM
