Inspired by Bryan Caplan’s ideological Turing Test, atheist blogger Leah Libresco proposes a religious Turing test to measure the extent to which Christians and atheists understand the arguments of the other side [HT: Bryan Caplan]: Just like Caplan, I’d like to put my money where my mouth is and play in an ideological Turing Test […]
Archive | Political Ignorance
Assessing My Ideological Turing Test
Reactions to my attempt to take Bryan Caplan’s ideological Turing test by simulating liberal arguments varied widely. But, on the whole, more people thought I missed the mark than that I hit it. What caused this relative failure? Part of the problem was that it wasn’t a true Turing test at all. In the original […]
Taking the Ideological Turing Test
In this post, I’m going to take Bryan Caplan’s ideological Turing Test, which requires me to “simulate” an advocate of an ideology I oppose. In this case, I’m going to simulate an advocate of liberalism and focus on issues where liberals and libertarians disagree. And I’m going to try simulate an advocate who is reasonably […]
The Ideological Turing Test
In a recent interview, Paul Krugman argued that liberals generally understand conservative arguments better than vice versa: A liberal can talk coherently about what the conservative view is because people like me actually do listen. We don’t think it’s right, but we pay enough attention to see what the other person is trying to get […]
Political Ignorance and the Federal Budget
Fred Barbash of CQ Weekly recently published an interesting article about public ignorance of the federal budget, and its implications for the current political conflict over government spending: With Washington tied in knots over the budget deficit, pollsters lately have been trying to get a sense of exactly where voters stand on the issue. What […]
“Anarchists” Protest Against Cutting Government
Self-styled “anarchists” have recently mounted violent protests against the Greek government’s proposed budget cuts: Greek anarchists threw petrol bombs and clashed with police during a major protest Wednesday against fresh government austerity measures, with at least two people reported injured. Dozens of hooded and self-styled anarchist youths hurled water bottles and stones at police outside […]
The Tea Party Movement and Popular Constitutionalism
By Ilya Somin on May 31, 2011 10:30 am in Conservatism, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Democracy, Libertarianism, Political Ignorance
My article, “The Tea Party Movement and Popular Constitutionalism,” is now available on SSRN. It is part of a recent Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy symposium on the Constitutional Politics of the Tea Party Movement. Here is the abstract: The rise of the Tea Party movement follows a period during which many scholars have focused […]
DSK’s Arrest and Belief in Political Conspiracy Theories
Le Monde has an interesting article reporting on a recent poll indicating that some 57% of French people believe that Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s recent arrest on charges of rape was the result of a “conspiracy” against him. Strauss-Kahn was the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and a leading projected Socialist Party candidate in the […]
Upcoming Lecture on Democracy and Political Ignorance at the University of Athens
I don’t know if we have many readers in Greece. But any who may be reading this might be interested to know that I will be giving a lecture on my forthcoming book Democracy and Political Ignorance at the University of Athens on Wednesday, May 4 at 7 PM. Details available here. I’m really looking […]
Why Do So Many People Believe in Political Conspiracy Theories?
Belief in political conspiracy theories is widespread on both sides of the political spectrum. Some 45% of Republicans believe that Obama is not a native-born citizen and (presumably) that the Democrats have gotten away with covering up that fact. Similarly, 35% of Democrats believe that George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 attack in advance, […]
Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy Symposium on the Constitutional Politics of the Tea Party Movement
By Ilya Somin on April 23, 2011 12:27 am in Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Democracy, Political Ignorance
The Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy has posted a symposium on “The Constitutional Politics of the Tea Party Movement.” The symposium was organized by Richard Albert of Boston College, who arranged a panel on the subject at this year’s AALS conference and wrote an introduction available here. The symposium includes contributions by well-known constitutional law […]
The Anti-War Movement and Democratic Political Fans
The Wall Street Journal website has an interesting summary of a recent study tracing the decline of the anti-war movement over the last few years, despite the deepening involvement of the United States in multiple wars: President Obama inherited two wars, neither of which has ended—and the United States is now involved in military action […]
Should Ignorant Voters Be Excluded From the Franchise?
CNN columnist L.Z. Granderson recently argued that ignorant voters should be excluded from the franchise: Should ignorant people be allowed to vote? A provocative question for sure; however, I’m not bringing it up for shock value, but rather to give us all pause. If I were to ask you to ingest an unknown medicine from […]
Jason Brennan’s The Ethics of Voting
I recently had a chance to read an advance copy of Brown philosophy professor Jason Brennan’s The Ethics of Voting. Although I have a few reservations about Brennan’s arguments, I highly recommend the book to anyone with an interest in democracy, political theory, or the problem of voter ignorance. It may well be the best […]
Canadian Party Leaders’ Debate May be Postponed to Avoid Conflict with an NHL Playoff Game
By Ilya Somin on April 11, 2011 12:21 am in Canada, Democracy, Political Ignorance, Sports and Games
Canada is in the midst of an important election campaign. Many important issues are at stake, including the state of the Canadian economy, crucial foreign policy decisions, and others. Nonetheless, the leaders of most of the contending parties have asked for the postponement of an upcoming debate between them to avoid a schedule conflict with […]