“What if we don’t know what we’re talking about?” Jason Brennan, author of
“Against Democracy!” and professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, asked the crowd during his presentation of “Is Democracy the Best System?”

Marshall University faculty and students as well as community members gathered in the Foundation Hall of the Erickson Alumni Center Tuesday to hear Brennan’s opening lecture for the seventh Amicus Curiae Lecture Series. Brennan is noted as a leading world expert in political and voter knowledge.

“I think democracy is like a hammer,” Brennan said. “Maybe it’s the best hammer we have for right now – and if we can find a better hammer, I think maybe we should use it.”

Brennan lectured about the limitations of democracy with a specific focus on voter behavior and their value to the democratic process.

“You don’t really have power in democracy, but you aren’t really supposed to either,” Brennan said.

Speaking in accordance with his book “Against Democracy!” Brennan introduced an alternative idea to democracy – an epistocracy, or in his words, “the rule of the knowledgeable.” Brennan defines epistocracy as allowing the most knowledgeable citizens to vote so that a greater return comes out of elections. He challenged the audience to consider whether voter competence or equality is more important to government.

“I particularly enjoyed the analysis of the democratic system as it stands now versus any potential systems we could experiment with,” Michael Bryant, sophomore computer science major said. “I liked how he went into a detail about the past systems of government to compare the value of the current. I wouldn’t say it changed [my view], but it has drawn more focus to what I think of the current system.”

Bryant attended the lecture with junior Jessie McClain, a pre-law student.

“[Jason Brennan] is one of my favorite authors,” McClain said. “When I read his book, I thought it was really eye-opening because it opens up about the theory [of epistocracy] he discussed in his lecture. We’ve been taught that democracy is the best thing for us, even though it may not be.”

The Amicus Curiae Lecture Series, sponsored by the Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy, will continue through the fall. Lectures, free and open to the public, begin at 7 p.m. in the Foundation Hall of the Erickson Alumni building.

Anna Williams can be contacted at [email protected].