The Oil Drum

45 comments on The Tragedy of Elections

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

WNC Observer on May 30, 2007 - 12:11pm

Actually, democracy is based on the assmuption that one million and one men are wiser than one million men, so you are back to that one man again.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Vintermann on May 31, 2007 - 2:11am

Look up Condorcet's jury theorem. Suppose a man has a 55% of making the right verdict. Now suppose that all members of a jury of five has the same chance. What is the chance that a majority in the jury reaches the right verdict?

What happens if you increase the size of the jury to twelve members?

You don't need much faith in people to appreciate the wisdom of democracy.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Donal on May 31, 2007 - 7:35am

I'd say that democracy is based on the idea that it is better to let citizens vote their interests directly rather than have a smaller group decide for them. In the US, we only do that for the occasional proposition or referendum. In all other cases, democracy is heavily filtered through the political parties, the electoral college, etc., leading to a small group of leaders.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

The contents below are paid advertisements. Their appearance does not imply an endorsement by The Oil Drum.

“This order [i.e. capitalism] is now bound to the technical and economic conditions of machine production which today determine the lives of all the individuals who are born into this mechanism, not only those directly concerned with the economic acquisition, with irresistible force. Perhaps it will so determine them until the last ton of fossilized coal is burnt.”

—Max Weber, 1905