As I mentioned a thread ago, commodification of voting is dangerous. In the coming message, I will explain the negative externalities associated with this.
This all comes down to the very nature of voting and democracy. As I have attempted to explain, voting is the exact opposite of individual rights and concensus. All of you know what democracy does, but let me put it in the context of commodification. In every reasonable voting method (remember democracy is distinct from concensus), it is possible for me to gain power by pleasing some subset of society (so long as that subset is sufficiently large). The people whom I must convince to support my decision can be different than the ones who will bear its cost. I'll call this the Separation of Recipients. Elections divorce benefit and cost. Normally, I cannot buy something and defer the cost to someone else without their consent. This is always present in any democratic society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_paradox Majority rule and individual rights are inconsistent. Let me explain why commodification of votes is particularly damning. The entire system of democracy comes crashing down if some majority votes itself into autocracy. Thankfully, people are bad at cooperating. Unless votes are verifiable. Think about it, lobbying exists because lobbyists can see how Congresspeople vote. Such blatant absues do not occur at voter-level. Vote verifiability and hence commodification make it possible for me to trade someone else's well-being for my own. If I act selfishly, I vote for whichever action brings me the slightest increase in my well-being whatever the cost to some external party so long as I can be compensated for the difficulty of voting and loss of the old winner. I will vote my pocketbook. This is not to say that democracy is bad. It is unstable and inefficient, but also peaceful, prosperous, utilitarian, and the champion of human rights. It will continue to work so long as voters can cheat their solicitors. ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info