Some VC commenters and readers of my recent book and other work on political ignorance, wonder whether there is any point to writing about this subject if my argument is correct. If most voters are ignorant about politics because such ignorance is rational, and that problem is unlikely to be overcome by information shortcuts, education, […]
Archive | Democracy
My New Article on “The Borkean Dilemma: Robert Bork and the Tension Between Originalism and Democracy”
By Ilya Somin on December 20, 2013 11:15 am in Constitutional Theory, Democracy, Originalism, Representation-Reinforcement
My new article, “The Borkean Dilemma: Robert Bork and the Tension Between Originalism and Democracy,” part of a University of Chicago Law Review symposium on the work of Judge Robert Bork, is now available on SSRN. Here is the abstract: As a constitutional theorist, the late Judge Robert Bork was best known for his advocacy […]
University of Chicago Law Review Symposium on the Work of Judge Robert Bork
By Ilya Somin on December 18, 2013 11:10 am in Conservatism, Constitutional Theory, Democracy, Originalism
The University of Chicago Law Review recently posted its online symposium on the work of Judge Robert Bork, who passed away last year. The symposium includes essays by several prominent legal scholars, including Steven Calabresi, Bradford Clark, Richard Epstein, John Harrison, Kurt Lash, John McGinnis, and John Yoo. My own contribution, “The Borkean Dilemma: Robert […]
Israel, Palestine, and Democracy
At Commentary, I have a new piece on the common argument that Israel must make a deal with the Palestinians to save itself as a democracy. Here is an excerpt: The “democracy” argument has become the central justification of the diplomatic process, incessantly invoked by Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli peace envoy Tzipi […]
“Democracy” and “Republic” Are Not Mutually Exclusive Terms
By Ilya Somin on October 28, 2013 5:56 pm in Democracy, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
If you write about democratic theory, as I do, you will periodically get complaints that it is inaccurate to refer to the United States as a “democracy” because it is actually a “republic.” For example, several Facebook commenters and others have suggested that I should have titled my book Democracy and Political Ignorance (which focuses […]
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 […]
Europe’s Proposed Circumcision Ban: How Far Back We’ve Gone While Making Progress
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 4, 2013 10:12 am in Anti-Semitism, Circumcision Bans, Democracy, Jewish Culture, Religion, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, Uncategorized
The Council of Europe in Strasbourg has recommended nations consider banning child circumcision. Jewish groups, and the State of Israel, are predictably outraged by the recommendation, which if adopted would make traditional (and not just religious) Jewish life impossible on the Continent. Thus the law has been denounced as anti-Semitic. While I have recently criticized […]
“Terrorism,” “Hostage-Taking,” and the Government Shutdown
Some Obama administration supporters claim that Republicans who refuse to pass a bill funding the federal government are acting like “terrorists” or “hostage takers.” To some extent, this is just your typical exaggerated political rhetoric, similar to that of Republicans who absurdly claim that Obama is a “socialist,” for example. But it also presents a […]
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on September 6, 2013 8:09 pm in Democracy, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Education, Political Ignorance, Voting With Your Feet
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently gave a speech lamenting widespread political ignorance in the United States: Two-thirds of Americans cannot name a single Supreme Court justice, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told the crowd that packed into a Boise State ballroom to hear her Thursday. About one-third can name the three branches […]
A Knowledgeable but Selfish Electorate May be Better than a Well-Meaning but Ignorant One
By Ilya Somin on August 8, 2013 2:50 pm in Democracy, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Elections, Political Ignorance, Public Opinion
In my last post, I discussed economist Dwight R. Lee’s article about why most of the electorate does not decide who to vote for on the basis of narrow self-interest. Unfortunately, the very same incentive structure that leads most voters to base their decisions on the public interest also leads most of them to be […]
Political Ignorance in Britain
By Ilya Somin on July 10, 2013 11:10 am in Democracy, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Public Opinion, Voting With Your Feet
Sam Bowman of the Adam Smith Institute has an interesting post analyzing recent survey data on widespread political ignorance in Britain [HT: Nigel Ashford]: The public is ignorant about politics and lacks even the basic facts that it would need to make sound judgments about political issues. A new poll by Ipsos-MORI shows just how […]
More on Egypt, Constitutionalism, and Democracy
At the Liberty and Law blog, Michael Rappaport has posted a thoughtful response to my recent post arguing that liberal democrats are sometimes justified in supporting restrictions on democracy in cases where the majority public opinion is highly illiberal. I cited survey data and other evidence suggesting that Egypt is probably such a case. Michael […]
Upcoming Huffington Post Live Discussion on Egypt, Constitutionalism, and Democracy
This Monday at 4:30 PM (eastern time), I will be participating in a Huffington Post Live video discussion on democracy, constitutionalism, and their role in recent events in Egypt. I don’t yet know the exact parameters of the discussion or who the other participants will be (the organizers indicated that this article helped inspire them […]
Restricting Democracy in Order to Protect Other Liberal Values
Some argue that it would be hypocritical for the United States or other Western nations to support the recent military coup against radical Islamist Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. After all, we supposedly champion democracy, and Morsi was democratically elected. Whether the US should endorse the post-coup government, oppose it, or take a wait-and-see attitude is […]
Updated Reflections on the Revolution in Egypt
When the Egypt’s Mubarak dictatorship began to collapse two years ago, I wrote a post entitled “Reflections on the Potential Revolution in Egypt,” shamelessly copying Edmund Burke. I suggested that the rebellion could easily end up establishing a regime even worse than Mubarak’s was. Unfortunately, the new radical Islamist government of Mohammed Morsi did indeed […]