On Mar 10, 2008, at 1:59 , Fred Gohlke wrote: > re: "The point is just that although I assume that the 'willing' > people > might be more responsible and as efficient leaders as the 'seeking' > ones > also the seeking ones may in some cases work quite well.)" > > I suspect our views on this are similar because, as you say, "... > people > have many kind of drivers." Even so, you may not share my confidence > that my peers will evaluate those they are grouped with and select the > person best equipped to serve the public interest.
I think I share your understanding that in small groups the close contacts between the members (and the ability to spend some time together) do help in making better judgement on other members of the group. I may feel that in the long chained process some of the benefits may be lost, and that the small groups have also some small group related problems (like e.g. ability to exercise some personal level pressure (unlike in closed elections) on the other group members). > When we can be swayed by mass merchandising > techniques, when we can be convinced it is proper to perform an act > for > which we condemn others, we need to be aware the trait can be > dangerous > for society and seek a means of restricting its adverse effects. It may be that in some time periods the "science of and skills in marketing" evolves faster than the "individual level understanding of these concepts and their impact on one's life". This would be unfortunate (if true for our time) since it would e.g. weaken the basis of democracy, voters that have sufficient understanding to steer the society. Juho ___________________________________________________________ All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info