One of my most talented friends, Murali Balaji, whom I have known since we were sitting in Russian class and cheering the Vikings as U of M undergrads many years ago, has started a new blog (long overdue, I say). In one of his first blog posts, he talks about the knowledge disparity in this country, and how he is in the rarefied atmosphere of academia, much different from where most people spend their lives. It definitely resonated, as I feel that I am on the same side of that widening gorge.
As he says, despite the low proportion of people with advanced degrees in this country, nearly all of his friends have one. The same goes for me: just about all of my friends and the people I interact with on a daily basis have at least a bachelor’s degree, with many having more than that (or at the very least the capability to pursue a degree should they desire; access to advanced education counting for just as much as actual degrees). Despite the relative low number of atheists in the country, I’m an atheist surrounded by other atheists, agnostics, or the non-religious. Stable marriages later in life, with all pregnancies planned ahead of time, are the norm. Familiarity with the major issues of the day is a prerequisite for the job. And as a result, the world I live in is disconnected from the reality that most people in this country face.
It’s also pretty true that this makes it harder for people in our sphere to convince the public to agree with us on policy grounds (it’s also little surprise that the people around both of us mostly share the same political beliefs). There’s more than a little bit of truth to the stereotype that liberals tend to talk down to the “uneducated” when trying to advocate for their policies, in a way that can come off as arrogant, even if factually correct. On the other hand, it seems that conservatives tend to stick to a “this is the way it is” a priori attitude when it comes to their policies, regardless of whether it agrees with the facts on the ground. What conservatives do understand, however, is how to make what they say much more appealing, in a simple way, to the masses and the media.
A perfect example is the recent fight over the debt ceiling. Republicans had a simple message: you have to budget like a family at the kitchen table. Simple. Clear. From an economic standpoint, absolutely wrong. Countries that can print their own money can have moderate deficits pretty much indefinitely as long as growth continues. Cutting spending during a recession is anti-growth and makes the deficit larger, as Greece demonstrates. The best way to reduce the debt as a percentage of GDP is to grow GDP and thus increase the denominator. The long-term debt is far more about the Bush tax cuts, unfunded wars, and the retirement of Baby Boomers than entitlement spending. And on and on…with longer explanations that are harder to get across and simply don’t have the punch that “Budget like a family!” has, no matter how incorrect the latter is.
Why don’t people understand the nuances of these difficult issues? Because they have more important things to worry about. Because few people have the educational background to understand these issues (how many people have taken an economics class is college, much less high school?). Because no matter what they do, people think they can’t change the system anyway. Most of all, let’s not forget because it’s not fun for the vast majority of people. Arguing about Keynesian economics isn’t something most people find enjoyable, even as the people I hang around with do.
I do believe that this intellectual gap is getting worse. To a certain extent, I believe a lot of the problem is the sloganization of one side of the political debate. What were once throwaway lines with a tenuous connection to reality meant to get people elected (“Welfare queen”, “Tax cuts raise revenue”) have become articles of faith, especially among newly-elected Republicans. They aren’t just saying these things to get elected; they sincerely believe in death panels and Agenda 21 and the rest. This knowledge disparity is creeping more and more into the public realm, and leading to a level of chaos and dysfunction not seen for quite a while. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what to do about it. The only thing I know is that a solution will be a long time coming.
More immediately, however, figuring out how to change political discourse in this country to move away from banal simplicities towards a serious debate about our economy, our values, and our future is incredibly important. This is what all progressive thinkers should be doing between now and November 2012 to ensure that the debt deal past does not become prologue.