By BJ Bjornson
I couldn�t help riffing off of Paul Krugman�s column yesterday which, like many of his missives, is pretty hard to argue with, and it�s his summation that makes for some good quotable material. After noting that there is little surprise in the Santorum wing of Evolution deniers disliking higher education, he then moves to the more business-minded Romney wing.
But what about people like Mr. Romney? Don�t they have a stake in America�s future economic success, which is endangered by the crusade against education? Maybe not as much as you think.
After all, over the past 30 years, there has been a stunning disconnect between huge income gains at the top and the struggles of ordinary workers. You can make the case that the self-interest of America�s elite is best served by making sure that this disconnect continues, which means keeping taxes on high incomes low at all costs, never mind the consequences in terms of poor infrastructure and an undertrained work force.
And if underfunding public education leaves many children of the less affluent shut out from upward mobility, well, did you really believe that stuff about creating equality of opportunity?
So whenever you hear Republicans say that they are the party of traditional values, bear in mind that they have actually made a radical break with America�s tradition of valuing education. And they have made this break because they believe that what you don�t know can�t hurt them.
Knowledge is power, and the powerful aren�t into sharing.
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