--- On Mon, 26/1/09, Fred Gohlke <fredgoh...@verizon.net> wrote: > Good Morning, Juho > > Let me start by apologizing for my tardy response. > Although it was not the only cause, there was an extenuating > circumstance: We were invaded ... by our offspring. My > wife and I celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary and, for > some reason, our family thought that worthy of note.
Congratulations. > To > tell you the truth, after thinking about my life with my > wife, I agreed with them. I am uncommonly fortunate. > > > re: "On the other hand a representational democracy > needs some > structure to handle different political opinions, > ..." > > Does reason not provide a better structure than bias? People are not always good at reason based free discussions. People need basic terminology to discuss about the matters in some compatible way. The required structure could be language based, but could also lead to the concept of corresponding opinion groupings. > > > re: "... and having parties is not a bad approach for > taking care > of this need." > > I disagree. It is a terrible, self-defeating approach. > > Many humans lament the depredation of war; particularly > those subject to its ravages. Why, then, is the best > political system we can devise one based on confrontation? > Can we not see that confrontational methods must lead to > confrontational results? Do we lack the wisdom and judgment > to seek a method informed by our reason rather than our > passion? The methods should be improved continuously since there are still many problems. I think all political debates easily become confrontational, both free discussion based and fixed position (e.g. party) based. > > Most people think parties are necessary so you are among > the majority. I don't think parties are necessary. There can be also other approaches to politics. > You may take comfort from that, but it gives > me none. I look at the evolution, just during my lifetime, > of gigantic entities that dominate our existence and > devastate our planet; I look at one nation invading another; > I look at monstrous greed thriving on deceit and > obfuscation, and I think, "Oh, Oh! There must be a > better way. We've got to do better than this." Yes. We are not really a civilized society yet. Few species kill each others as eagerly and as intentionally (and knowing that this is not right) as we do. Juho > > Fred Gohlke > ---- > Election-Methods mailing list - see > http://electorama.com/em for list info ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info