Why Socialists need range voting (Executive summary)
Range Voting would have gotten Socialist 2004 Presidential
candidate Roger Calero about 1000 times more votes than he got under plurality
and also hugely more than he would have gotten under Approval Voting.
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)
would be a huge mistake for Socialists since it just leads to 2-party
domination
just like the plurality system.
Two-party dominance is a tool used by Capitalist plutocrats to
oppress us and deprive us of choice (in particular, preventing socialists from being elected), and
allowing them to rule through corruption
while giving us the illusion of democracy.
And plurality voting is the tool they use to get that 2-party dominance while giving the
calming illusion of democracy.
Karl Marx might more accurately have said that "plurality voting is the opiate of the people."
Without a change in the voting system to get rid of Duverger's law
of 2-party domination, Socialists and all third-party candidates will
forever have no chance. There is not a single third-party
member of the House, Senate, or high Executive branch (zero out of
about 600 people).
The fact that the US Socialists are split into several competing factions (which no longer
would be "competing" if we had range voting) is yet another massive
reason to want range voting.
So it is a matter of survival: you must push range voting.