gone for a day. this is only two days old but it looks like it sat around a lot longer.
On Jun 16, 2010, at 2:57 PM, Jameson Quinn wrote:
... there could be an honest CW, and bullet voting creates an artificial cycle.
...
Anyway, you cannot give simple guarantees like the one you stated ...
Jameson, i stated no guarantee. and i acknowledge (and have previously understood) that in some circumstances, strategic voting can send Condorcet election into a cycle. in fact, it seems to me that Bullet Voting is actually a subset of the Truncation strategy, and it was shown before (by you on May 12) how Truncation sends an election with a Condorcet Winner (candidate M for "middle") into a cycle where Schulze and would elect candidate RC (for "radical center"). that was a strategy that was successful in changing the outcome of the election to the liking of those who utilized the strategy. i think we all recognize that it's all but guaranteed that, in real situations, those who utilize a strategy may possibly change an outcome of an election, but will seldom get the outcome they desire.
i wasn't clear, (i needed to use the word "consistently" somewhere), but i *still* really doubt that where there is a CW which is not the candidate some group of people want to elect, a voting strategy can be employed with only their own votes (without convincing other people to change their vote, which is what politics and election campaigns are all about) that will change the CW to that candidate this group of people want to elect. all's they can hope to do, in *some* circumstances, is to throw the election into a cycle and hope that it is their guy that comes out on top from whatever rules of that particular Condorcet method.
i certainly did not mean to say that Condorcet are guaranteed to be free of cycles (but i *did* say that i think that, in real elections in reality, cycles will be rare, but i qualified that with what i *think*), and i certainly did not mean to say that Condorcet was strategy-proof if cycles are involved. in fact, i don't think that i *did* say that nor did i use the word "guarantee".
but if cycles are *not* involved (at all, going into a cycle from a sincere CW or coming out of one), i would be interested in you showing us how a strategy, such as Bullet Voting, can change the CW from someone you didn't support to someone you do support.
and Jameson, i wouldn't mind if you would respond to my May 29 post (that was a reply to your post). i had two questions and i tried to post a reminder about it on June 8. of course you need not respond, but i would appreciate it.
bestest, -- r b-j [email protected] "Imagination is more important than knowledge." ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
