I Love The Poorly Educated

 The GOP's assault on college education proceeds apace. Deep red and even purple states are waging war on the credibility and professionalism of educators at state universities. West Virginia just ended teaching any foreign languages and any post-grad mathematics. DeSantis is doing untold damage to Florida's once proud university system. Moms for Liberty (sic) have made high school teaching so onerous that we are facing a massive shortage of teachers.

We can see that in 2020, Biden won post graduate degree holders 67-32; college graduates 56-42 and basically tied among "some college" 49-50. Trump won high school or less 56-41. Given the GOP's current priority of thwarting the will of the people via gerrymandering and the stunt they just pulled in Ohio, we can see this as part of their campaign to shape the electorate, rather than shape how the electorate perceives them. In other words, if college grads vote Democratic, then lets have fewer college grads.

Why do college grads prefer Democrats? Wouldn't they prefer lower taxes on their (presumably) higher income? 

I think it comes down to a really underrated aspect of better and higher education: basic liberal arts shit. By that, I mean basic thinking skills. My sons are either in or planning to be in pre-professional programs. The idea of being an English or History major doesn't really appeal to them, even if one wants to go into Business, Marketing or Communication. That worries me. Those Basic Liberal Arts Shit skills of questioning, writing and analysis seem to be on their way to being replaced by basic fungible skills.

Still, they have to do some of that Basic Liberal Arts Shit, and they introduces them to doubt. Doubt is a key aspect of intelligence. Easy. reflexive cynicism is bad; I see enough of that amongst teenagers. It's not real thinking, but it approximates real thinking. Real thinking begins with doubt. It requires you to be comfortable with doubt. It is in short the opposite of the Dunning-Kruger effect that has been made flesh in Donald Trump and others. 

This inability to be comfortable with doubt might explain why Republicans can hold - fervently hold - beliefs that are counterfactual. The refusal to doubt is a hallmark of evangelical Christianity and religious fundamentalism in general, so it creates a natural reinforcing effect. Trump can be wrong again and again and again, and it can all be in the public record, and it will not matter to Cult 45. 

UPDATE: Buried near the end of this excellent piece about an honest security system repairman trying to navigate clients who believe that things are way more dangerous than they are, is an encounter with a 64 year old retired police officer. This guy, admittedly a former cop, carries a .45 with him everywhere. What's interesting is that he believes we are in the Biblical end times. 

Fun fact: Revelation was not a book that Jesus had anything to do with. John was clearly having a psychotic break. Revelation is the ravings of a mentally ill man. 

And that book informs the worldview of many Americans.