FPTP vs MMP

[Evan Leibovitch]

Ivan Avery Frey wrote:
>> And one can also speculate that if the Queen had testicles, she'd be
>> King.
>
> And your point is?
That dumb speculation, especially that which engages in wishful
thinking, is pointless.

> I'm not saying MMP is a panacea to what ails us. I just don't think
> anybody can dispute that MMP is a fairer way to elect a legislature,
> than FPTP.
Then you're not listening.

I dispute that MMP is a fairer way to elect a legislature. In mail
throughout today I've explained why.
A system that penalizes mainstream parties, independents and tiny
parties in order to benefit certain small parties -- while increasing
the complexity of voting and forcing upon the legislature a new
entourage of automaton MPPs with no community accountability -- is not a
fairer way.

>From the point of view of supporters of the NDP and Greens, as well as
those who seem to think that majority government is a bad thing on
principle, MMP is very beneficial. From most other points of view, MMP
just sucks.

> I mean come on 44.8% of the popular vote and over 50% of the seats in
> the legislature!

In a two-way race, that would indeed tick me off. In a three-or-more-way
race, I'm quite cool with that.

My general thoughts on this issue were inspired by Winston Churchill:

First Past the Post is the worst way to choose a government -- except
for all the others.

- Evan


--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists