When I was in undergrad studying economics, we talked about “Rational Ignorance.” The idea is that acquiring information is costly because it takes time that one could spend doing something else. For instance, instead of reading the newspaper, I could watch a movie.
The concept of rational ignorance explains the reason why many people are poorly informed about the news. Many people simply have other tasks that they find more valuable than reading the newspaper, and if those activities fill up 24 hours in a day, the newspaper will not be read.
Rational ignorance is such an interesting concept to me because I have always considered it to be a “good American citizen” thing to do to be very informed about the political process to make an informed vote in an upcoming election and participate in general political discourse. However, when I’m busy, I don’t read the newspaper. Over the past few months, I’ve been busy, and I really have not kept up with primaries and debates. At first, I felt bad about it, but the more that I think about it, the less bad I feel.
As an American citizen, I might actually be doing more for my country by specializing in what I do best instead of trying to take time away from my current task (studying the law) and diverting it to having an excellent understanding of each political candidate, blogging about each candidate, and getting really involved in the political process. If I get more involved in the political process, I’ll have to get less involved in law school, and I’ll be spreading my abilities around more rather than specializing in one thing. Modern economies are rooted in specialization, because people work more efficiently if they specialize… thus, shouldn’t I try to help the economy by specializing instead of trying to divert time from my specialization?
Of course, I’m going to inform myself before I vote in a primary, and perhaps I’ll blog once or twice about a candidate or two. But the gain from keeping myself informed during the non-voting portion of the primary season is far smaller than the cost of missing out on studying for law school, having time to relax, and running. If anybody knows a candidate with the below characteristics, let me know.
- Pro-Environment (but smart environmental policy like a gas tax, not ethanol-fanatic-types)
- Pro-Free-Trade
- Pro-Gay/Black/White/Asian/Hispanic Rights
- Pro-Network-Neutrality
- Pro-Freedom of Religion (that means allowing anyone to worship any way they want, AND keeping particular religious rules out of the government)
- In favor of simplifying the tax system – get rid of selective and confusing tax rules.
- Anti-War (in moderation – more like “willing to consult with a variety of others”)
- Preferably independent, and not tied to a large corporation or industry interest group.
- Someone who is very smart.
- It does not matter if they are male, female, hermaphrodite, straight, gay, black, white, hispanic, asian, or even an immigrant.
P.S. This candidate does not exist.
