ZadekpediaDemocracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter is a book by Ilya Somin, discussed by Bob Zadek on the September 21, 2013 episode of The Bob Zadek Show, where Zadek described it as Somin’s new book, about to be published. The episode’s first segment is devoted to the book’s argument; the remainder of the hour turns to unrelated topics.
The education objection
Somin addresses the objection that political ignorance could be solved through education, including by mandating that people learn more about politics in high school. He offers two responses. First, education levels have risen enormously over the last 50 or 60 years, yet there has been little or no increase in political knowledge during that time, so giving people more education does not seem to increase their knowledge. Second, when governments run schools, it is often not in their interest to increase people’s political information; they instead prefer to use public schools to indoctrinate people in their own preferred views or those of interest groups with influence over education policy, both conservative and liberal. In theory a government could make a strong effort to use public education to increase political knowledge, but in practice it does not work out that way, in part because the public is ignorant and therefore not in a good position to monitor education policy. Somin calls it amazing that since the 1940s and ’50s there has been a massive increase in average education levels but very little increase in political knowledge levels Is America Doomed by Voter Ignorance? (2013).
The voter knowledge test
With a couple of minutes left, Zadek asked whether there is a case for some minimal knowledge test as a qualification to vote, comparing it to the test a naturalized foreign-born citizen must pass, and acknowledging the Jim Crow past. Somin answers that there is an argument, and that he discusses it in Chapter 7 of the book: just as we take a test to be able to drive because bad driving poses a threat to other people, bad voting poses a threat to other people. The problem, he says, is that he is not convinced government could be trusted to be honest and sincere and unbiased in drafting the test. Whoever was in power when the test was established would have a strong incentive to skew it in favor of their party’s supporters and against the other party, even setting aside racial bias or other kinds of bias. In theory there is a case to be made for it, but he is very skeptical that such a test would be unbiased in practice, and the history of these kind of tests strongly suggests that it would not be.
Somin adds that, not in the book but in a future article he is planning to write, he has kicked around the idea of possibly letting children vote if they could pass a test of political knowledge. Currently children are excluded from voting because we think they are ignorant, and most of them probably are; but if there is a minority who are more knowledgeable than the average adult voter, letting them vote could improve the overall quality of the electorate without taking the vote away from anybody who currently has it. Zadek jokes about a system in which he and Somin are the only two voters; Somin replies that in the private sector, for a lot of decisions in your life, you are in fact the only voter, or if you are married it might be you and your spouse, so there is a way to be the only voter so long as you are willing to let a lot of other people have that privilege for themselves Is America Doomed by Voter Ignorance? (2013).
Knowledge shortcuts and ancient Greece
A caller from Sonoma, Chuck, raised the ancient Greeks, who elected everyone from government officials to the army officers who led them into battle, and asked whether that was relevant to the argument. Zadek answers that Somin discussed ancient Greek political society in his book, and that Somin points out the demise of the Greek society is in part attributable to voter ignorance: the Greek population had to vote on launching a political campaign against, Zadek believes, the city of Syracuse, and was grossly misinformed about the strength of that city-state. Based on that misinformation they voted to declare war and start the campaign, which Greece lost, substantially weakening the Greek Empire; many historians believe it led to the demise.
Zadek then offers the economy as a contemporary example, saying that in the 2010 election voters were basically required to vote on whether John Maynard Keynes is correct or whether Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and other more laissez-faire economists are correct, and whether Paul Krugman is correct or whether Arthur Laffer is correct. He describes knowledge shortcuts as something Somin mentions in the book: many Americans select wise men, often pundits and columnists, who they believe have done the heavy lifting and are more informed and rational, and follow their advice. Zadek gives George Will as his personal example. He calls using shortcuts not bad per se so long as you are selective, and identifies political party labels as an example of a bad shortcut, since many people just vote party labels Is America Doomed by Voter Ignorance? (2013).
Across episodes
The episodes come from a single episode, which moves from the book’s argument to the Modesto Junior College free speech dispute and to Richmond, California’s use of eminent domain against mortgages; the episodes show no development of the book’s argument across episodes.