Comments on: Your Vote and the Lesser of Two Evils http://www.inforipple.com/2012/01/your-vote-and-the-lesser-of-two-evils/ exploring the tension between liberty and law Fri, 03 May 2013 04:47:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Quincy http://www.inforipple.com/2012/01/your-vote-and-the-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-828 Quincy Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:56:39 +0000 http://www.inforipple.com/?p=298#comment-828 I read Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” today for the first time. There were many powerful arguments. I know things were different then, but this quote seemed appropriate to share here:

I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intelligent, and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of this wisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reasons to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as the only available one, thus proving that he is himself available for any purposes of the demagogue.

]]> By: Don http://www.inforipple.com/2012/01/your-vote-and-the-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-765 Don Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:38:03 +0000 http://www.inforipple.com/?p=298#comment-765 This is nothing more than wishful sentiments mixed with an occasional weak cliché.

]]> By: Quincy http://www.inforipple.com/2012/01/your-vote-and-the-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-764 Quincy Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:45:56 +0000 http://www.inforipple.com/?p=298#comment-764 I thought about that, but to say the odds were 9 in 40,036 would mean that in an election in which the tally was within one vote, every single person who voted for the winning candidate cast the pivotal vote. That didn’t make sense to me because I was thinking of the pivotal vote as the one vote that made the difference.

I’m no statistician, but I think 9/40,036 is the probability that a particular election will be within one vote rather than the probability of whether your vote will be the pivotal one.

]]> By: Elise http://www.inforipple.com/2012/01/your-vote-and-the-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-762 Elise Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:35:24 +0000 http://www.inforipple.com/?p=298#comment-762 Brilliant! But shouldn’t it be 9 in 40,036 instead of 9 in 1 billion chance?

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