Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government Is Smarter, Second Edition

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 of people with little political knowledge and little ability to objectively evaluate what they do know.

Ilya Somin mines the depths of  public ignorance in America and reveals it as a major challenge for democracy. He weighs various potential solutions, provocatively arguing that political ignorance is best mitigated and its effects lessened by decentralizing and limiting government. People make better decisions when they choose what to purchase in the market or which state or local government to live under, than when they vote at the ballot box, because they have stronger incentives to acquire relevant information and to use it wisely.

The second edition of Democracy and Political Ignorance fully updates its analysis to include new and vital discussions of the "Big Sort" and its implications for "voting with your feet," the connection between political ignorance and the disproportionate political influence of the wealthy, new proposals for increasing political knowledge, and up-to-date survey data on political ignorance from recent elections.

The first edition of this book attracted interest around the world, and has been translated into Italian and Japanese.

Ilya Somin is a Professor at George Mason University School of Law. He is the author of The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (2015), and coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (2013).  Somin's work has appeared in a variety of academic journals and popular media, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He writes regularly for the Volokh Conspiracy blog at the Washington Post.