I once saw an argument that if you compare the chance of an election being decided by 1 vote to the benefits of getting your preferred party/candidate in power, which may be billions/trillions, then voting can be worth thousands of dollars—at least if you value those benefits at full rather than only for their affect on you (which is dubious).
I once saw an argument that if you compare the chance of an election being decided by 1 vote to the benefits of getting your preferred party/candidate in power, which may be billions/trillions, then voting can be worth thousands of dollars—at least if you value those benefits at full rather than only for their affect on you (which is dubious).
http://lesswrong.com/lw/fao/voting_is_like_donating_thousands_of_dollars_to/
That’s it, although checking that post and comments again I feel like it may be making an accounting error of some sort.
edit: Actually it’s probably just positing excessive confidence (inspired by hindsight) in the value of getting your guy compared to the other guy.