Volume 5 · The Great Indian Bazaar · Essay 289

Tullock Voting Paradox

The Tullock Voting paradox does not want to confuse you. It wants to show you that your first answer was too easy.

Hold both ends and the puzzle relaxes. The mistake is insisting that only one end exists. Indian philosophy knew this long ago; our epics are full of victories that were also defeats.

The village panchayat and the housing society meeting are the same animal in different clothes: five people deciding, fifty people complaining, and everyone leaving wiser than the minutes suggest.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. The name is new; the wisdom stood at bus stops long before either of us.