Rational ignorance is a common theme of economists thinking about voting and the electorate, but what about willing ignorance? That’s the gist of this Schumpeter quotation:
“[T]he typical citizen drops down to a lower level of mental performance as soon as he enters the political field. He argues and analyzes in a way which he would readily recognize as infantile within the sphere of his real interests…”
Here is some more background on that quote. It is certainly consistent with the overarching theme of Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy that capitalism might die out due to lack of enthusiasm from its principal beneficiaries.
The accompanying illustration is from the legendary political cartoonist, Herblock. I snagged both the quote and the picture from the Spirit of Moderation blog.
