Elections in microcosm and macrocosm. Alfred Tennyson anticipated the so-called United Nations, in an early poem of “The Parliament of Man.” The phrase might just as well apply to the rational mind of an individual human being, who holds elections and exclusions of personal thoughts. The sub-conscious mind amounts to an “electorate” that determines those decisions. The introspective psychologies of Freud and Jung are largely about internalised social conflict resolution. Indeed, depth psychology attempts to resolve deep conflicts of instincts and conditionings. Altogether, it is the work of the United Nations in microcosm. The human brain has ceased to be an impenetrable “black box,” since the advent of brain-scanning neuro-science. It is possible that election science may have a quantitative role to play in microcosmic elections of the human mind. Meanwhile, election science or “electics” has an urgent role to fill, in advising on conflict resolution, in the macrocosm of all humanity, or human relations in general. Most people are evidently not aware of some simple electoral considerations, for promoting peace: Majority elections are “the tyranny of the majority” (John Stuart Mill; Lani Guinier) which fragment societies of their minorities, seeking to become majorities, in smaller units, where they can preside over their own “tyranny of the majority.” Thus conflicts multiply. What is refered to as a majority is not a democracy, it is “only half a democracy” (Robert Newland). This type of democracy is more accurately described as a single majority, where one representative is supported by half the voters. There are also multiple majorities. The next simplest majority is a double majority, where one third of the voters are each supported by two representatives, giving a proportional representation of two thirds of the voters. A triple majority gives a three quarters proportional representation, and so on, approaching fully democratic representation. This series of increasing representation is called the Droop quota. It is not the last word, in the matter. However, fairly sharing representation does away with the need for unrepresented minorities tofracture societies, to become their own dominating majorities. The fractious effect of “the tyranny of the (single) majority” extends from legislatures to executives. This tyranny applies to monarchs or presidents. Even if the president is an elected monarch, that is essentially the ancient Greek tyrant, who was an elected ruler, given a free hand. When Quentin Hogg (Lord Hailsham) called Britainan “elective dictatorship,” this was a good definition of a classic Greek tyranny. Alexander Solzhenitsyn rejected party lists. Parties only represent a part. The dictator Lenin favored party lists. Representative democracy requires direct elections. These are achieved by the Personal Representation form of proportional representation, as described by Thomas Hare and his chief supporter John Stuart Mill (The Hare system alias the Andrae system). Following them, HG Wells advocated “Proportional Representation with a single transferable vote in large constituencies.” Or, as the Australians say, the quota-preferential method.  Regards, Richard Lung.

Well considered ... and well written from a comprehensive logico-neuro-psycho-historical perspective. Few are the modern writers equipped both scientifically and historically for such felicitous, concise exposition of this topic of such general importance. On Wed, Sep 14, 2022, 10:12 AM Richard Lung <voting@ukscientists.com> wrote: > > Elections in microcosm and macrocosm. > > > > Alfred Tennyson anticipated the so-called United Nations, in an early poem > of “The Parliament of Man.” The phrase might just as well apply to the > rational mind of an individual human being, who holds elections and > exclusions of personal thoughts. The sub-conscious mind amounts to an > “electorate” that determines those decisions. The introspective > psychologies of Freud and Jung are largely about internalised social > conflict resolution. Indeed, depth psychology attempts to resolve deep > conflicts of instincts and conditionings. Altogether, it is the work of the > United Nations in microcosm. > > The human brain has ceased to be an impenetrable “black box,” since the > advent of brain-scanning neuro-science. It is possible that election > science may have a quantitative role to play in microcosmic elections of > the human mind. > > Meanwhile, election science or “electics” has an urgent role to fill, in > advising on conflict resolution, in the macrocosm of all humanity, or human > relations in general. Most people are evidently not aware of some simple > electoral considerations, for promoting peace: Majority elections are “the > tyranny of the majority” (John Stuart Mill; Lani Guinier) which fragment > societies of their minorities, seeking to become majorities, in smaller > units, where they can preside over their own “tyranny of the majority.” > Thus conflicts multiply. > > What is refered to as a majority is not a democracy, it is “only half a > democracy” (Robert Newland). This type of democracy is more accurately > described as a single majority, where one representative is supported by > half the voters. There are also multiple majorities. The next simplest > majority is a double majority, where one third of the voters are each > supported by two representatives, giving a proportional representation of > two thirds of the voters. A triple majority gives a three quarters > proportional representation, and so on, approaching fully democratic > representation. > > This series of increasing representation is called the Droop quota. It is > not the last word, in the matter. However, fairly sharing representation > does away with the need for unrepresented minorities to fracture > societies, to become their own dominating majorities. > > The fractious effect of “the tyranny of the (single) majority” extends > from legislatures to executives. This tyranny applies to monarchs or > presidents. Even if the president is an elected monarch, that is > essentially the ancient Greek tyrant, who was an elected ruler, given a > free hand. When Quentin Hogg (Lord Hailsham) called Britain an “elective > dictatorship,” this was a good definition of a classic Greek tyranny. > > Alexander Solzhenitsyn rejected party lists. Parties only represent a > part. The dictator Lenin favored party lists. > > Representative democracy requires direct elections. These are achieved by > the Personal Representation form of proportional representation, as > described by Thomas Hare and his chief supporter John Stuart Mill (The Hare > system alias the Andrae system). Following them, HG Wells advocated > “Proportional Representation with a single transferable vote in large > constituencies.” Or, as the Australians say, the quota-preferential method. > > Regards, > > Richard Lung. > > > > ---- > Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em for list > info >