http://the-classic-liberal.com/your-vote-prisoners-dilemma/ Old Right Libertarian & Conservative Politics, Economics, and Opinion Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:59:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://the-classic-liberal.com/your-vote-prisoners-dilemma/comment-page-1/#comment-7205 Frank Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:14:12 +0000 http://the-classic-liberal.com/?p=18253#comment-7205 Prisoner's Dilemma has nothing to do with the fact that your individual vote has no effect on the election. It's just the outcome of the numbers involved and a basic understanding of probability (leaving aside the Presidential determination by Electoral college). And let's assume the improbable happens, and your vote breaks the tie (a tie between 40 million people, who exactly split down the middle). Even if that was theoretically the truth, what about in practice? All operations have an error rate, and counting votes (electronically and by hand) is no exception. Your individual vote is swallowed up by all those votes not counted, or counted improperly - even if in the perfect world your vote made the difference, in the real world the end result would be something like 240 votes in person A's favor. But again, you can vote in a national election every day until you are 120, and never be in a position where your vote made the difference. However, just like in religion, something doesn't have to be true in order to give comfort to people. Voting helps some feel like a part of the democratic process, serves to protect against the fear of impotence, etc. And there's nothing wrong with that. But in that case, one should vote their conscience; I do not understand how anyone who understands the mathematical meaninglessness of the act would waste their time trying to play pragmatic games and pick the least runt of a litter full of runts. Pick the one who you actually want to win. Although, for a public figure looking to influence others (Buckley), it may serve a purpose to tell them to vote for the most conservative popular candidate, hoping the large number of votes makes a difference. But still, privately, that person would be foolish to vote for anyone except the best choice for them. Prisoner's Dilemma has nothing to do with the fact that your individual vote has no effect on the election. It's just the outcome of the numbers involved and a basic understanding of probability (leaving aside the Presidential determination by Electoral college).
And let's assume the improbable happens, and your vote breaks the tie (a tie between 40 million people, who exactly split down the middle). Even if that was theoretically the truth, what about in practice? All operations have an error rate, and counting votes (electronically and by hand) is no exception. Your individual vote is swallowed up by all those votes not counted, or counted improperly - even if in the perfect world your vote made the difference, in the real world the end result would be something like 240 votes in person A's favor. But again, you can vote in a national election every day until you are 120, and never be in a position where your vote made the difference.
However, just like in religion, something doesn't have to be true in order to give comfort to people. Voting helps some feel like a part of the democratic process, serves to protect against the fear of impotence, etc. And there's nothing wrong with that. But in that case, one should vote their conscience; I do not understand how anyone who understands the mathematical meaninglessness of the act would waste their time trying to play pragmatic games and pick the least runt of a litter full of runts. Pick the one who you actually want to win.
Although, for a public figure looking to influence others (Buckley), it may serve a purpose to tell them to vote for the most conservative popular candidate, hoping the large number of votes makes a difference. But still, privately, that person would be foolish to vote for anyone except the best choice for them.

]]> http://the-classic-liberal.com/your-vote-prisoners-dilemma/comment-page-1/#comment-7181 smitty Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:43:27 +0000 http://the-classic-liberal.com/?p=18253#comment-7181 I voted for Perot in '92. To say that this vote was wasted is to say that Clinton was further left than Obama. No, the breakdowns of the political expression matter, even though there be only one winner. I voted for Perot in '92.
To say that this vote was wasted is to say that Clinton was further left than Obama.
No, the breakdowns of the political expression matter, even though there be only one winner.

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