Paul Henry Rosenberg wrote:
> I agree 100% with Max on the innumeracy of the Left. The recent
> to-and-fro over proportional representation is simply another example of
> how innumeracy cripples our understanding. (And explains why I really
> didn't try to push it too hard. I know what I'm up against! <Sigh!>) If
> you understand the math, then you understand that "if it ain't
> proportional, it ain't representation." If you don't understant the
> math... Well, we've seen the consequences of that for ourselves this
> week.
Paul, I don't think you quite understand the grounds for the utter indifference of some to this question. In so far as I followed the question at all, it seemed that the bone of contention was always over whether proportional representation would be a good thing or not. Yawn. And I would say the same thing if *any* of the issues to which I give preeminent emphasis were under discussion. Would socialism be a good thing or not? Yawn. Would the elimination of the death penalty be a good thing or not? Yawn. Would the elimination of war be a good thing or not? Yawn.
By what concrete modes of struggle will X be acquired, those modes described in terms of current political conditions and currently available political means?
Now offhand -- and until someone gives me a good reason to explore it less off-handedly, I would rather spend my time watching my tropical fish or reading the terrible book by a Yale professor-poet I'm currently reading.
Offhand, as I was saying, it would seem that the only way to achieve proportional representation is to elect a congress and 38 state legislatures that think it would be a good thing. There is one other route (the only route that, as far as I know, as ever worked on actually major issues), that is the route of creating so much chaos in the streets, the shopping malls, the factories, the schools, etc. that Presidents, Wisemen, and Corporate Board Chairmen will rush about frantically trying to do something that will calm us down.
Now what I presume (until some one dramatically argues elsewise) is that if "we" (whoever we is here) had enough power to bring about proportional representation within the U.S. electoral system, we would probably have enough power to persuade a Republican Congress and a Republican Congress to abolish the Defense Department and use the money to build municipal parks.
Convince me otherwise -- I believe your numbers, so don't bother arguing (at least to me) that it is a good thing. That is irrelevant until you lay out how we can get there.
Carrol