Olson preempts the question of “How come the Swiss aren’t poor given that they’ve had stability for so many centuries?” by looking at their constitution, which

Olson preempts the question of “How come the Swiss aren’t poor given that they’ve had stability for so many centuries?” by looking at their constitution, which “makes it extremely difficult to pass new legislation. This makes it difficult for lobbies to get their way and thus greatly limits Switzerland’s losses from special interest legislation.” Switzerland is like a hack of democracy, worth studying. -- EDIT -- Great article, this quite stuck with also: Olson suggests that a rational voter should remain as ignorant as possible about politics and policies. Even if special interests manage to siphon off 80 percent of the voter’s income, the voter is better off devoting his or her energy to earning more rather than attempting to change the system (likely to require full-time effort, reducing income to $0, and be futile because the voter has no money compared to the special interests). Sadly this is the absolute hard truth. Some of the conclusions use a straw man when it comes to critiquing accepted economic theory. The economics are not quite as simple as their are being presented, never the less the vast majority of that article was excellent.