On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, James Green-Armytage wrote:
James G-A replying to Forest
I should have made it more clear that I wasn't talking exclusively about 100% consensus, though that is the (usually impossible) democratic ideal. But the greater the consensus, the better. If no significant consensus is possible, then (as Jobst argued) the best we can do is give the strongest contenders a chance at winning. I think of approval and Condorcet as probes for measuring the amount of consensus. Each measures in a different way.
What exactly is your definition of consensus, in this context?
What I mean is "the degree of consent."
If you can get 85 percent of the people to agree that plan A is an acceptable alternative, then I consider that an 85 percent consensus.
In other words, 85 percent of the people involved would be willing to consent to plan A.
Unanimity would be 100 percent consensus.
I just googled "consensus" to see if my usage was consistent with common usage. I found that consensus can mean anything on the spectrum from plurality to majority to "overwhelming consensus" to unanimity. It can also refer to the process of increasing the degree of agreement, through discussion, compromise, etc.
So by common usage there are degrees of consensus between plurality and unanimity, and the word "consensus" is associated with the democratic ideal of reaching a generally acceptable agreement.
In particular, methods of improving upon mere majority consensus are considered an antidote to the "tyranny of the majority," which means a majority getting their way no matter how offensive or oppresive it might be to the rest of the community.
Approval voting by itself cannot solve the "tyranny of the majority" problem, because a confident majority can always impose its will by "bullet voting."
However, the spirit of approval voting is in the direction of increased consensus, and voters that approve sincerely (whether from altruism or lack of information for strategizing) increase the likely degree of consensus with respect to the outcome.
Forest ---- Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
