Category: democracy
-
proportionality
What’s with this love for proportionality? I’m referring to the notion that one side in a conflict should limit its response to an attack to be equal in force to that of the other side’s provocation. But nothing more. Can someone please explain why this is a good idea? The putative rationale I’ve heard is…
-
u.s. elections
There’s this widely-held notion that the two-per-state composition of the U.S. Senate unduly advantages “red” states (rural areas) with sparse populations as compared to those more densely-populated (urban) “blue” states. A corollary to this idea is that the U.S. House of Representatives does the opposite, i.e., because it is a per capita form of representation (each…
-
democracy is popular
Democracy is awesome, right? Yet an inherent fundamental flaw remains: giving the power to the people, left to their own devices, the majority can easily exploit the minority. This shortcoming has reared its head repeatedly throughout history. When it gets particularly ugly, we call it “populism.” Put differently, populism is a rather common product of…
