- published: 10 Jan 2013
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Majority rule is a decision rule that selects alternatives which have a majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary decision rule used most often in influential decision-making bodies, including the legislatures of democratic nations. Some scholars have recommended against the use of majority rule, at least under certain circumstances, due to an ostensible trade-off between the benefits of majority rule and other values important to a democratic society. Most famously, it has been argued that majority rule might lead to a "tyranny of the majority", and the use of supermajoritarian rules and constitutional limits on government power have been recommended to mitigate these effects. Recently some voting theorists have argued that majority rule is the rule that best protects minorities.
Though plurality (first-past-the post) is often mistaken for majority rule, they are not the same. Plurality makes the options with the most votes the winner, regardless of whether the fifty percent threshold is passed. This is equivalent to majority rule when there are only two alternatives. However, when there are more than two alternatives, it is possible for plurality to choose an alternative that has fewer than fifty percent of the votes cast in its favor.
Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in Naples, Florida in 1997 by singer and guitarist Tom Gabel. Since 2002 the band's lineup has also included guitarist James Bowman and bassist Andrew Seward; current drummer Jay Weinberg joined in 2010. After releasing three studio albums through independent record labels, Against Me! moved to Sire Records for 2007's New Wave, which reached no. 57 on the Billboard 200. Their fifth and most recent album, 2010's White Crosses, was their most successful, reaching no. 34. In 2011 the band launched their own record label, Total Treble Music, through which they plan to release future albums. In 2012 Gabel publicly came out as transgender, with plans to begin a medical process to live as a woman and eventually take the name Laura Jane Grace while continuing to front Against Me!. The first album expected to feature Laura Jane Grace as frontwoman is Transgender Dysphoria Blues.
Against Me! was formed in 1997 by singer/guitarist Tom Gabel as a solo act, occasionally performing with backing musicians. The first Against Me! release was an eponymously-titled 1997 cassette demo. With the addition of drummer Kevin Mahon, a second demo, Vivida Vis! (1998), was released in limited numbers by Misanthrope Records. The band's first EP, Against Me!, was released in 2000 through Crasshole Records. Their first widely-distributed release was the EP Crime as Forgiven by Against Me! (2001), released by Plan-It-X Records and Gabel's own Sabot Productions. A third EP, an eponymously-titled acoustic recording by Gabel and bassist Dustin Fridkin, was released later that year.