QOTD: Keep 'em dumb and uneducated
by digby
This from Ben Carson's book:
“[T]he government may say everyone deserves a college education and announce a program of wealth redistribution in order to make sure that everyone has a fair chance in an increasingly sophisticated world.
On the surface this seems like a noble goal and could gain a lot of popular support. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it introduces a type of top-down government that allows a group of elites to determine what is good for society.”
I'm not exactly sure what he's saying there but it sounds as though he either thinks academic "elites" shouldn't be determining what people know or government "elites" shouldn't be helping people to get educated because they shouldn't make the judgment that education is good for society. Or maybe both?
Whatever he's saying, it's a ridiculous comment. Carson is an educated man who must know that not everyone is brilliant enough to get scholarships to Yale as he did but nonetheless would benefit from education and would contribute to society much more than he or she gets back in the long run. This quote is gibberish. But then much of what he says is gibberish which is just plain weird considering his own academic record and successful career.
This guy is most enigmatic politician I can remember. I can only assume that he just started thinking about politics recently and turned to the right wing fever swamps to educate himself on the subject. He spouts this Glenn Beck level drivel with total confidence.
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