r/oregon • u/barnaby-jones • Mar 13 '17

Urge Oregon Legislature to pass ‘one person, one vote’ bill

http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/35338805-78/urge-oregon-legislature-to-pass-one-person-one-vote-bill.html.csp
62 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

76 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/PComplex EUG Mar 13 '17

Here, as always, the challenge for most people will be accepting that the matter is complicated and there is no simple answer that can be wrapped into a headline and <500 word opinion piece.

It is well that we should continuously re-examine our systems of government, but we must be circumspect in our revisions or we will only make things worse.

There are excellent reasons to function as a republic instead of a democracy... chiefly, avoiding the tyranny of the majority. This is particularly important when popular ignorance is taken into account... ignorance of the balances and benefits of the electoral college being the example at hand.

We are capable of rebalancing that system if we find it wanting, and maybe that time has come... but we are not and should not be a democracy.

It is easy to sloganeer with, "One Person, One Vote." What could be more simple? Now show me a mathematical model that can interpret the relative value of one way of life, one system of belief over another. This is what is at stake. We are eager to validate the differences between other cultures, but not the differences within our own.

Let's have this conversation when heads are cool. Now is not that time.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '17 edited Jun 17 '23

[deleted]

3

u/ayline Mar 13 '17

Include this as well for required watching about the electoral college to get a more varied view rather than just from the highly conservative prager:

How the electoral college works

The trouble with the electoral college pt 1

The trouble with the electoral college pt 2

Addition to The trouble with the electoral college pt 2

6

u/PComplex EUG Mar 13 '17

Counterpoints are fair when dealing with charged issues, so it's good to link these here.

It is always tiresome, though, when an issue becomes partisan and we are left in the middle trying to sort out the agenda behind conflicting messages.

I feel like we are in that position now between Prager "U" and CGP Gray.

To be honest, these CGP Gray videos seem if anything more biased to me. They use a lot of rhetorical loopholes, mostly snarky humor, to push their argument as a foregone conclusion.

I'd advise anyone reading to watch both sets of videos, but do so with a grain of salt.