Democracy and political ignorance : why smaller government is smarter

308 Pages·2016·1.964 MB·English

by  Ilya Somin

D e m o c r a c y a n D
P o l i t i c a l i g n o r a n c e

D e m o c r a c y
a n D P o l i t i c a l
i g n o r a n c e
W h y S m a l l e r g o v e r n m e n t i S
S m a r t e r , S e c o n D e D i t i o n
ilya Somin
stanford law books
an imprint of Stanford University Press
Stanford, california
Stanford University Press
Stanford, california
© 2013, 2016 by the Board of trustees of the leland Stanford Junior
University. all rights reserved.
no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the
prior written permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of america on acid-free,
archival-quality paper
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication Data
names: Somin, ilya, author.
title: Democracy and political ignorance : why smaller government is
smarter / ilya Somin.
Description: Second edition. | Stanford, california : Stanford law
Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press, 2016. | includes
bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: lccn 2016004872 (print) | lccn 2016005766 (ebook) |
isbn 9780804798037 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780804799317
(pbk. : alk. paper) | isbn 9780804799355 (electronic)
Subjects: lcSh: Democracy—United States. | ignorance (theory of
knowledge)—Political aspects—United States. | voting—United States. |
United States—Politics and government.
classification: lcc jk1726 .s665 2016 (print) | lcc jk1726 (ebook) |
ddc 320.973—dc23
lc record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004872
typeset by newgen in 10/15 Sabon
To my grandparents,
the late Ber and Pauline Somin
and
the late Basya Firun, and Nathan Firun

contents
Preface to the Second edition ix
acknowledgments for the First edition xiii
introduction 1
1 the extent of Political ignorance 17
2 Do voters Know enough? 47
3 the rationality of Political ignorance 74
4 the Shortcomings of Shortcuts 106
5 Foot voting vs. Ballot Box voting 136
6 Political ignorance and Judicial review 182
7 can voter Knowledge Be increased? 197
conclusion 224
appendix 233
notes 235
index 281

Preface to the Second edition
the first edition of this book addressed a range of issues related to one
of the most important challenges facing modern democratic government:
the problem of widespread political ignorance. While many readers and
reviewers did not agree with all of its arguments, Democracy and Politi-
cal Ignorance has attracted considerable attention from both academics
and laypeople interested in the future of democracy and the role of gov-
ernment in society. it has been discussed in the media and used in college
courses in multiple academic disciplines.
although most of the evidence analyzed is drawn from american
politics and history, the book even managed to generate interest in other
countries, so much so that it has now been translated into italian and
Japanese.1 in both the United States and many other democracies, there
is growing recognition of the dangers of political ignorance.
Because of the interest generated by the first edition, i believe that the
time has come for a revised version that improves and expands on the
original. this edition revises and updates the analysis of its predecessor,
while also addressing several important questions that were not covered in
the first edition. For the convenience of readers familiar with the first edi-
tion, i offer this brief summary of the major new issues covered in this one.
chapter 1 updates the evidence of widespread political ignorance in
america with new data from the 2012 and 2014 election cycles. in chap-
ter 2, i have added an analysis of the implications for political knowledge
of recent scholarship indicating that relatively affluent americans wield
vastly disproportionate influence over the political system. although
wealthier voters have higher average levels of political knowledge than
the rest of the population, their disproportionate influence does not di-
minish the dangers of political ignorance, and may even exacerbate it.
chapter 5 has been revised to include a discussion of the so-called
“Big Sort” and its implications for foot voting. it explains why foot voting
ix