Democracy and Political Ignorance
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
Democracy and Political Ignorance
| Author | Ilya Somin |
|---|---|
| Published | 2013 |
| Pages | 308 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Somin argues that voters’ ignorance of government is rational rather than a failure of civics — one vote does not repay the cost of becoming informed — and that the remedy is to decide fewer things at the centre. His alternative is decentralization and “foot voting,” choice among jurisdictions, where the chooser has an incentive to get informed. |
Where I heard about it
- Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List (March 2026), under Public Choice Theory, paired with Buchanan: the school’s analysis of how political actors behave, applied to the voter rather than the official. Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.
Connections
- The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this card came from.
- Democracy — the institution whose informational assumptions the book attacks.
- Government — the size question the argument is aimed at.
- Incentives — rational ignorance as an incentive result rather than a character flaw.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.