Why Some People Shouldn’t Vote

I was happy to learn recently that economist Arnold Kling, a columnist on TCS Daily (a policy/politics website advocating individual freedom) and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, graduated Swarthmore College as I did. His blog contains a fine article by former Fortune columnist Greg Mankiw, titled Why Some People Shouldn’t Vote. It’s the only column of his Fortune refused to print. This reminds me of what political scientist Robert Weisberg wrote of election day

Election day, like Christmas or Yom Kippur, is the high holiday, a day of homage and reaffirmation, in the creed of the modern state.

Indeed, as I’ve noted before (as have others), it’s odd how many people want you to vote, even when unaware of how knowledgeable you are, and whether or not your vote will cancel out theirs.