A Worldview on the Relation Between Education and the Right to Vote

During class, we discussed the relation between education and whether someone deserves to vote. While educated people might be much more knowledgeable about what the current intellectual paradigm is, I am reminded of the famous Keynes quote: "Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist". Ironically, of course, were you to ask a Friedman or another Monetarist in the middle of the 1970s, Keynes would be the defunct economist.

On the other hand, in recent times, modern economists are paying much more attention to Keynes and are more open to fiscal stimulus than before the financial crisis. The point is paradigms go back and forth. The "educated" opinion of this year may be the "uneducated" opinion of last year. Politics and general knowledge do not exactly progress in a linear fashion. One could argue that some things have gotten definitely objectively better. Our knowledge of chemistry is definitely better now than in the 1700s. However, very rarely do our politicians argue over the proper reactants for making ketamine. Most political issues are very, very subjective. They often come down to philosophy and values. So many of our issues come down to issues of collectivism vs. individualism, or traditional roles vs. alternative roles, etc. Should English be the official language of the United States?

One's answer to that reflects one's opinions of nationalism, American identity and so much else. But the "expert consensus" does not reflect an objective, better answer to such a question, if one even exists. Eugenics used to be all the rage about a hundred years ago (it was in fact justified on vaguely pseudo-scientific principles), and now most people acknowledge it's pretty wack. As much as a meme it is to complain about the liberal bubble, my own personal observations have led me to suspect there is some truth to it.

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My father, a secular Jewish English Professor, who is (shocker!) very liberal was one of the few people in his department not to take a trip to Cuba a few years ago. He would tell me that even when he taught in Mississippi, all the professors were liberal Northerners who hung out with each other. In the wake of the 2016 Presidential election, the Huffington Post and New York Times were ablaze with articles about how the "coastal elites" were out of touch. To become a professor, one must get a Bachelor's, and then eventually a PhD. However, middle and upper class individuals are much more likely to go to college than lower class individuals.

Essentially, higher education does not exist in a bubble. The people who work in academia all have similar backgrounds, similar beliefs and similar sentiments. They have a culture and value system that is the "higher-educated" viewpoint. Thus, possessing the "educated" opinion of, say, sugar tariffs, may not reflect one's intelligent decision-making, but one's loyalty to the worldview of this subculture On the other hand, one's opinion is not discredited because their worldview was formed by their environment. Whatever you feel about sugar tariffs, the life events that made you feel that way are more or less irrelevant.

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