Why read Democracy and Political Ignorance?

Book cover of Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government Is Smarter

Book description

One of the biggest problems with modern democracy is that most of the public is usually ignorant of politics and government. Many people understand that their votes are unlikely to change the outcome of an election and don't see the point in learning much about politics. This creates a nation…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Democracy and Political Ignorance as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Jason Brennan

Author

For seventy-five years, nearly every study on political knowledge finds that most voters are overwhelmingly ignorant of nearly anything you might reasonably think they should know to vote well.

Voters don’t know relevant statistics (even broadly), know what laws were passed, know who represents them, know what government can and can’t do, or know who is responsible for what. There are still some political scientists who, for ideological reasons deny this or deny that it’s important, but that’s like saying there are people who think the world is 6000 years old.

At any rate, Somin’s book is one of the…

From Jason's list on democracy, its promises and perils.