I get a strong feeling that you wanted from the start to find a result in favour of voting, and have simply been looking for a justification. To employ one of the LW mantras—if (under a given value system) it is rational to stay at home, would you truly want to believe that it is rational to stay at home?
Anyway, voting can be modellised fairly well as a tragedy of the commons; the resource being shared is “degree to which politicians are and feel controlled by the electorate”, and each voter can eat a little of it in exchange for some free time. Most of the arguments about TotC also apply here; however, the nature voting does also create some more sophisticated scenarios, such as an organised minority of exceptionally disciplined voters.
I get a strong feeling that you wanted from the start to find a result in favour of voting, and have simply been looking for a justification. To employ one of the LW mantras—if (under a given value system) it is rational to stay at home, would you truly want to believe that it is rational to stay at home?
Anyway, voting can be modellised fairly well as a tragedy of the commons; the resource being shared is “degree to which politicians are and feel controlled by the electorate”, and each voter can eat a little of it in exchange for some free time. Most of the arguments about TotC also apply here; however, the nature voting does also create some more sophisticated scenarios, such as an organised minority of exceptionally disciplined voters.