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The week's question
In March 2025, in the thread "Re: OT, out", Umm asked the members: "Do you think it is because America is made up of magical soil that makes businesses based in America magically profitable?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Author: wzambon ✶❂🐝 HONORARY
SHREWD   😊 😞
Number: of 86252 
Subject: Trump and the poorly educated
Date: 07/27/26 8:45 PM
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Trump’s assault on education broadly and higher education specifically is no accident — after winning a 2016 caucus, he said: “I love the poorly educated.” Voters with college educations are now significantly more likely to vote Democratic, while more non-college educated voters vote Republican. It’s called the diploma divide.

It wasn’t always that way. Republicans noticed signs of demographic changes in the 1980s as college graduations soared. They quickly did something about it. Slashing federal education funding, promoting vouchers, and attempting to abolish the Education Department didn’t start with Trump; it started with Ronald Reagan. Every Republican president since then has tried to undo this foundational principle.

The belief in educating the electorate dates back to the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson believed education would protect the new country against “degeneracy” and “tyranny.”

Moreover, he believed education must be free. “The tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance,” he said.

In the early days of the country, education was considered a collective social benefit, essential for the republic to thrive. Later, it was understood to be integral to America’s ingenuity and economic prosperity.

A smarter citizenry protects freedom and improves economic growth. Now, it is up to citizens at all levels to check the power of the authoritarian in the Oval Office, who is trying to dumb down the American public for political gain.

Dan Rather
open.substack.com - Degrees of damage
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This community has written 86,214 posts about US Policy. The article-length ones it recommended most:
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