From: Hal Finney (hal@rain.org)
Date: Thu Dec 26 1996 - 19:54:48 MST
From: Alexander Chislenko <alexc@firefly.net>
> For example, the populace that votes for somebody who promised them no
> taxes and lots of free booze. This may look like a good idea to every
> particular person, but politically it may be disastrous.
Actually, each individual who votes plays only a microscopic part in the
result of the election. So you really can't fault people for the way they
vote; the amount of responsibility each one carries is vanishingly small.
In fact, maybe this is the problem - since people know that their
votes don't really matter, most don't worry much about how they vote.
You could almost see a democratic election as a system designed to
minimize personal responsibility for the outcome, and therefore to ensure
irresponsible results.
Hal
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