Klarinet Archive - Posting 001016.txt from 1999/12

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] The Top Ten...
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 19:11:17 -0500

Tony Pay opined:

<<<I'd say that, though there are advantages too, one of the disadvantages
of running (for example) an orchestra democratically is that some people
think we ought to find out *what everyone thinks* about some issue. And
because some people haven't ever thought about that issue, because it
wasn't real to them, what we get is their ******* opinions, which we
should never have had to take into account in the first place.>>>

This is an intrinsic problem in any organization where everybody gets the
same vote no matter how much the issue is held dear. This is true of most
governmental elections. There have been other schemes invented allowing
voters to "weight" their votes -- the primary example that comes to mind is
cumulative voting for corporate directors under most U.S. corporate laws.
Under cumulative voting, the voter gets 1 vote per share for each slot on
the board, and can pile them up for the one candidate that they really,
really want to be elected. (So ,for example, if there are 3 directors, you
could cast 3 votes per share owned for 1 candidate, greatly increasing their
chances of election). This hasn't been tried on a government election that
I know of, but has been used by some labor unions. Lani Gunier was
lambasted for suggesting that it be used to ensure proportional
representation along racial lines here in the U.S.

In *my* opinion, not terribly efficient.

Tony opined further:

<<<Actually, if it actually interests you to find out people's opinions,
you should probably do it late at night, with a bottle of whiskey. That
way, you can sort out all the world's problems as well.>>>

. . . after rehearsals (which occur for me mostly in the evening), we
generally prefer beer. A matter of opinion, of course.

kjf

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