The Progressive Dream and the Arrows Impossibility Theorem

In the wake of the midterm elections, there’s been a lot of talk about democracy and how it works. Many—largely on the left—are confused and angry because, despite garnering the higher number of votes, Democrats failed to take a majority of seats in the Senate. This demonstrates a basic misunderstanding about American government, the electoral process, and how they work. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they break it down for us on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

Pittsburgh shooting

Smoking rate hits a low

Foolishness of the Week:

Man claims he is age-fluid

Topic of the Week: Democracy:

The View blames Senate win on gerrymandering

The problem of factions

Winning the popular vote but losing the election

Democrats got more votes but Republicans won

Arrow Impossibility Theorem

Join the Conversation:

Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

Words & Numbers Backstage

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