Re: Voting Systems

This being an election year in the U.S., I've had a lot of conversations with friends and coworkers about various parts of the political process, voting, and of course the candidates. During these conversations I inevitably mention some point from CGP Grey's fantastic voting systems videos. If you haven't seen them already (links below), Grey explains how some of the weird quirks and pitfalls in our modern political systems are actually not at all related to the representatives or candidates, but to the underlying method that we use to elect them.

Politics and Law are always interesting because their results are so heavily influenced by the way they are developed and enacted. The legal system, for example is not about the specific intent of any given law, but about how that law can be used to enact future laws and the precedent it sets. Politics works in the same way: The method we use to elect our officials affects how the officials run for office and what issues they bring up. The voting system is the lens through which we see and conduct our democracy, and, like every lens, it's not perfect.

CGP Grey: Politics in the Animal Kingdom →

CGP Grey: Foonnote *: I, Phone →


I'm also happy to see that Grey, against his reservations, published his videos about the iPhone encryption debate.


Filed under: voting, cgp grey
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