May 31, 2012
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THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON HIGHER EDUCATION
The interest rates on Stafford Student loans is set to double from 3.4% to 6.8% on July 1st if congress does not act before then. Both the Senate and House versions of a bill to cap the rates were voted down just before the Memorial Day break. It’s looking unlikely that a bill may pass before the deadline.
Democrats wish to pay for the bill by closing a tax loophole for wealthy Americans. Republicans want to pay for the bill by repealing a section of the Affordable Care Act.
I believe the reality is that while Congressional Republicans feel they need to pay lip service to keeping student loan rates low for political reasons, the truth is that they hope the deadline passes and rates double. The reason why is obvious.
Studies by the Pew Research Center, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and about a million independent social psychologists all indicate a strong correlation between higher education and liberal ideology. By making it harder for people to get a college education or an advanced degree they hope to slowly make America less educated, therefore more Republican.
As an example I offer “Mr. Frothy” himself; Rick Santorum. Ricky accused President Obama of being a “snob” because he wants “everybody in American to go to college.” This is a curious statement considering Santorum actually has more advanced degrees than Obama does. Santorum went on to imply to a crowd in Troy, Michigan that college professors try to “indoctrinate” students. Obviously Santorum has had enough education to see a correlation between higher education and liberal thinking (obviously in people other than himself) and sees it as a danger to his extreme right wing agenda. My son, who happens to be a college professor, does not indoctrinate students. He simply explains that he will be unable to pass them if they are not Democrats.
I don’t think everyone in America should go to college, but I would hope that higher education would be an aspiration for most young Americans and I do think it should be as assessable as possible. An educated America is a more innovative and prosperous America. Isn’t that part of the American dream?
Besides, I’m a unapologetic liberal and I want to see the Republican Party crushed like the un-educated cockroaches they are. Opps….did I just say that out-loud?
Comments (12)
I wonder if anyone has done a study of crime rates in countries with free or almost free higher education vs the U.S. Or how about a nice poverty rate study?No, let’s just go ahead and make it even harder for people to have any hopes of living their live out of debt and being able to save for their futures before they turn 50.Stupid.
Oh, how I have missed your posts.
I find it shocking and sad that Republicans have been able to turn getting an education into an undesirable pursuit.
The legislation to nearly double the interest rate was written and passed by the Democrats before they lost control of Congress in 2010. And they timed the expiration to coincide with the 2012 election. The only war going are the Democrats’ wars against American society, the American economy and the American taxpayer.
I went to the same undergraduate institution that Ricky boy attended, and a few of those years overlapped. We had a lot of the same professors, most likely. I know we had the same professors in the political science department. No one stopped Ricky from founding the Young Americans for Freedom, a right-wing student group that over the years caused a lot of problems on campus with some of their speakers. Most of the faculty remember Ricky as argumentative but not much a leader (that he ended up in Congress was a shock). I recall there being faculty members in the political science department who weren’t afraid to let their leanings show — it’s the nature of the major — but no one else. There would be lively discussions in class between those with differing political beliefs and we all walked out friends at the end of the day. And the only professor who ever tried to “indoctrinate” me was a staunch conservative. Not in a classroom, but at a friend’s vacation home, during spring break. I didn’t know this guy, but when he found out which professors I had strong relationships with at the department, he went ballistic. Calling them all lunatics and telling me how they brainwash students and how that bleeping woman professor was the worst of all, and went on to call her names that Rush Limbaugh would be proud of. When I said I didn’t agree with him, he said I was just another brainwashed sheep. Found out later, he was one of the least popular professors because of the way he berated students who didn’t agree with him. I’m still trying to understand why someone with an education is pounced on as an “elite” when in the next breath, those same name callers are decrying how poor the educational system is.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Curtis, you’re exactly right. In fact, I believe in the redistribution of wealth but on a very limited basis. I want to give all your money to a nice gay couple to pay for their honeymoon.
My biggest problem as a member of the liberal elite is that I think education is the answer to almost any problem.
@miss_order - That’s because education IS the answer to almost any problem.
Oh, silly us!
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