Co-blogger Nita Farahany takes issue with “many parts” of my post defending the morality of designer babies against claims that they would lead to unjust inequality. I always welcome a good debate. But, in this case, virtually all of the things she “takes issue” with are not actually things I said in my post. First, […]
Author Archive | Ilya Somin
My Response to Jeffrey Friedman’s Critique of Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 22, 2013 7:02 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Polls, Public Choice, Public Opinion
Cato Unbound has now posted my response to political theorist Jeffrey Friedman’s insightful criticism of my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. Here is an excerpt: In his critique of my book, Jeffrey Friedman continues his longstanding efforts to show that most political ignorance is inadvertent rather than rational. In his […]
My Response to Sean Trende’s Commentary on Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 22, 2013 6:55 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Polls, Public Opinion, Uncategorized
Cato Unbound has posted my response to RealClearPolitics Senior Elections Analyst Sean Trende’s thoughtful commentary on my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. Here is an excerpt: Sean offers three important criticisms of the argument advanced in Democracy and Political Ignorance: that voters know enough to make good decisions on really […]
The Case for Designer Babies
Georgetown philosophy professor Jason Brennan has an excellent post defending a prospect that many people find repugnant: the possibility that we might soon have “designer babies,” such that parents can use genetic engineering to increase their babies’ intelligence and other abilities. One major concern about designer babies is that it would lead to huge inequalities […]
My Response to Heather Gerken’s Comment on Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 21, 2013 6:03 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Federalism, Political Ignorance, Voting With Your Feet
Cato Unbound has posted my response to Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerken’s thoughtful critique of my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. Over the next day or two, they will also post my response to the insightful commentaries by Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics and political theorist Jeffrey Friedman. The conversation […]
The Superiority of Democracy Over Dictatorship is No Reason to Ignore the Problem of Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 19, 2013 11:20 am in Democracy, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
In this recent American Scene post, Pascal-Emanuel Gobry argues that I and other libertarians who focus on the problem of voter ignorance as a major flaw of modern democracy are wrong to do so, because democracy is still superior to other forms of government: Libertarians who live in America look around them and see cops […]
Upcoming Georgetown University Law Center Event on Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 17, 2013 11:05 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
On Tuesday, October 22, noon-1:30 PM, I will be speaking about my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter at the Georgetown University Law Center. There will be commentary by economist Bryan Caplan, author of The Myth of the Rational Voter, and Georgetown law professor Louis Michael Seidman. There will also be […]
Sean Trende on Democracy and Political Ignorance
Cato Unbound has posted a thoughtful critique of my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter by Sean Trende, Senior Elections Analyst at RealClearPolitics. Sean argues that, despite considerable ignorance, voters know enough to make good decisions on major issues, and to select the better of the two major party candidates. He […]
Oral Argument in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action
Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog has a detailed discussion of today’s oral argument in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the case challenging the constitutionality of Michigan’s Proposal 2, a state constitutional amendment banning the use of racial preferences in college admissions. As Denniston notes, the five conservative justices – including key swing voter Anthony […]
Heather Gerken on Democracy and Political Ignorance
Cato Unbound has posted Yale Law School professor Heather Gerken’s insightful response to my lead essay on “Democracy and Political Ignorance.” The Cato Unbound symposium focuses on the arguments presented in my new book, Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. In her critique, Gerken argues that political ignorance is significantly by mitigated […]
Three Important New Books on Constitutional Law
By Ilya Somin on October 13, 2013 11:45 am in Affirmative Action, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Originalism
In this post, I briefly review three important new books on constitutional law that are likely to interest many of our readers. Here goes: I. John McGinnis and Michael Rappaport, Originalism and the Good Constitution. This book is a fascinating and innovative defense of originalism. Unlike some other originalists, who defend the theory because they […]
The Problem of Confusing Political Terminology
Co-blogger Eugene Volokh’s excellent post on the sometimes confusing multiple meanings of the word “Jew” call to mind similar confusions in political terminology. For example, the term “conservative” is routinely used to refer to 1) people who are in some sense on the political right, 2) people who oppose changes in the status quo, 3) […]
My Cato Unbound Lead Essay on “Democracy and Political Ignorance”
By Ilya Somin on October 11, 2013 4:40 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Public Opinion
My essay, “Democracy and Political Ignorance,” – which summarizes some key themes of my new book on the same subject, is the lead essay in this month’s Cato Unbound forum. Here is the first paragraph: Democracy is supposed to be rule of the people, by the people, and for the people. But in order to […]
Bryan Caplan’s Voter Achievement Test
By Ilya Somin on October 10, 2013 1:38 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Education, Political Ignorance
Widespread political ignorance has persisted despite major increases in education and IQ, and in the availability of information through the media. But economist Bryan Caplan – a leading academic expert on political knowledge suggests a possible solution – the Voter Achievement Test: After years of reflecting on voter cognition,… I’ve come up with a remedy […]
Jack Shafer on the Limits of the Media’s Ability to Increase Political Knowledge
By Ilya Somin on October 8, 2013 7:11 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Media, Political Ignorance
Jack Shafer of Reuters has an interesting column on the implications of my book Democracy and Political Ignorance, and other recent scholarship, for claims that public knowledge of politics can be subtantially increased if only we had more or better media coverage of political issues: The surplus of quality journalism in print, on the Web, […]