A man once said, If you think the cost of education is expensive, imagine the cost of ignorance. This is a very prophetic statement, one that I use often. However, there is an opposing side to this view. Though there may be a cost to ignorance, there is also a lot of money in it.

In economics, there is a term called rational ignorance. This means that the cost of not researching the answer to a situation is more costly than simply paying your way out of it. A perfect example is being forced to donate $2 to a retirement fund account for one pay period. The cost of you doing research to get full disclosure on the basis of the retirement fund, who manages it and how the benefits will be paid, will cost you more than $2. So, in this case, you decide to remain rationally ignorant to that situation. However, among us, we have raised the bar on what is a rational level and what is not.

How could there be money in ignorance? It is easy. There is a rule for individuals who speak to an audience to remain more knowledgeable than them. This applies to educators, radio personalities and yes, our very own politicians. Politicians often run on the premise of promises and stirring up your emotions, but when it boils down to it, they rarely highlight their intelligence as an asset that you should support. Since it has become a trend that politicians can easily get elected into our office based on shallow likability and not substantive capability, very few of them invest in attaining the necessary wisdom before deciding to be your representative.

Heres where the problem kicks in. Because they understand that they need to stay more intelligent than you in order to shovel you gimmicks and you believe it, they do not encourage their voters to become educated about their work or track record. What this does is give them the upper hand and job security. They are able to appropriate funds for projects they know that you will prefer to remain rationally ignorant to. However, at the end of the day, the costs and waste we are left with, are totally irrational.

My son was recently affected by a votefrom the school board in Georgia where they decided not to provide transportation for students who live within one mile of the school. The school board used straight line distance, meaning, if you look at a map and draw a line from the school to the home and it is within a mile, no more service. Heres the problem. The children are not walking to school in a straight line distance. Straight line distance would mean walking through the woods over terrain. So now, we have hundreds of students walking roughly 3 to 4 miles each way to school.

What went wrong here? Many parents were unaware of this vote. If something critical happens to one of these children walking along highways, guess whos not responsible, the school district. This is due to the schools falling under sovereign immunity. They cannot be sued!

This type of problem resonates through our entire political system. We have individuals in office with a plan for themselves, and once we remain ignorant to the meat and potatoes, that is big money for them. Now, please dont take any of what I say as a posture for me to run for some type of office. That is nowhere on my radar, though I appreciate your encouragement to do so.

If we really expect crime to decrease, we will have to increase our awareness of those who are expected to do the work in making this a reality. Success takes a boatload of work, but most of that work is simply holding those who we pay accountable. Voters are the CEOs of the elected officials. We put them to work. Letting them off the hook to waste our tax dollars is no different than letting employees do what they want on the job and cost the company to lose profit. If we have expectations, lets make sure they are met. If we have ambitions, lets make sure the opportunities are available. If we have suffering, lets make sure what we pay for can help relieve our misery. Sitting back and hoping the same old dogs will develop new tricks is not only irresponsible, it is truly irrational ignorance!

Visit my new website www.theblackinfrastructure.com and get an advance copy of my new book, Rebuilding the Black Infrastructure: Making America a Colorless Nation.

St. Thomas native Devin Robinson is an economics professor at Oglethorpe University, a community activist, author of seven books and a columnist. E-mail him at devin@devinrobinson.com. His website is www.devinrobinson.com.