Californians vote on many ballot measures, but we almost never participate in significant public debates and discussions about the measures’ contents and impacts. This isn’t simply a result of apathy or poor civic education. Rather, it’s an example of “rational ignorance,” a term coined by the late Stanford-educated economist Anthony Downs in his 1957 book, An Economic Theory of Democracy. The term defines this democratic reality: since you have just one vote out of millions, your individual... Read this story
