There’s none so blind as those who will not listen*

It’s often been said, “Never confuse education with intelligence.” That’s because knowing what something means and how it works are two different things. For example, you can’t teach common sense — or the practical application of an idea — from within a classroom. You just can’t. Seems like you should be able to, but it doesn’t work that way.

Albert Einstein explained it by saying, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” So yes, while we have far more “educated” people in our country today, the question is how many actually think — at all?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2022, a remarkable 37.7% of adults aged 25 and older have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. This is a significant leap from the mere 4.6% in 1940. So yes, we are, technically, a more “educated” country today.

At one point, the more “educated” were Republicans. In 1994, for example, 54% of college graduates identified with or leaned toward the GOP, while only 39% aligned with the Democrats. But if you fast forward to today, these figures have flipped: most college graduates now lean Democrat, with only 39% favoring Republicans. Those with postgraduate degrees lean even harder to the left, with 63% of voters with postgraduate experience voting Democrat.

And it shows. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (graduate of Boston College) believes “unemployment is low because people have two jobs” and “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.” Well, first, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, the unemployment rate actually measures how many folks don’t have jobs (not how many jobs someone chooses to work). Secondly, the year 2006 called — Al Gore wants his “Armageddon” clock back (we’ve heard the apocalyptic warning about how the world is going to end because of so-called “global warming” too many times to take any of that seriously now).

Then there is Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (who has a J.D. from the University of Houston) saying, “It is not a criminal violation to enter the country illegally.” She believes Kamala Harris ran a “flawless” campaign (uh, no, it is illegal, and Kamala’s campaign was flawed because it failed so miserably to attract voters).

What about Gavin Newsom (who graduated from Santa Clara University)? He says California is a “model for the nation.” I don’t think so, Governor. But, I have to ask — a model for what? Mass exodus? Crime? Power outages? Homeless encampments bigger than some third-world countries?

There are thousands of examples like these where highly “educated” leftists make no sense at all. If they were the “thinkers” that Einstein said were the purpose of education, shouldn’t they realize the ridiculousness of their rhetoric? Or do they, and they don’t care?

I mean, Democrats present themselves as the champions of the working class, yet they push policies that destroy small businesses. They claim to be the party of science, yet they ignore biological facts and push absurd gender ideology. They claim to be for democracy, yet they work tirelessly to censor opposing viewpoints.

The reality is a college degree hanging on the wall doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have the common sense to know what to do with it in the first place. America was built by men and women who didn’t have fancy credentials but had something far more valuable: wisdom, work ethic and an unshakable belief in freedom.

Immigrants, like my father and grandparents, came to this country with little more than the clothes on their backs, and they built America into the greatest nation the world has ever seen. They started businesses, raised families, fought wars and passed down traditions of hard work and self-reliance.

Many of them never set foot in a college classroom, yet they had more intelligence in their pinky fingers than today’s so-called intellectual elites.

So today, we have a generation of college graduates who can recite Marxist theory but can’t change a tire. They can write dissertations on gender fluidity but don’t understand how supply and demand works. They get degrees in “social justice” and then demand the government pay for their student loans because they were too foolish to realize their degree is worthless in the real world.

And most often, these are the voters who support the Democrat Party and, in the words of Mark Twain, know “everything except how to make a living.”

The challenge we face is making sure that common sense prevails. It means electing leaders with real-world experience, not just fancy degrees and a knack for virtue-signaling. It means restoring respect for work, for law and order, and for the American way of life.

The divide in this country is real, and it’s not going away. It’s the age-old story of the “haves” and the “have nots” – except this time, it’s about who is smart enough to really “think” about the issues that matter and those too “educated” ever to know the difference.

*Neil Gaiman, “American Gods”

Louis R. Avallone is a Shreveport businessman, attorney and author of “Bright Spots, Big Country, What Makes America Great.” He is also a former aide to U.S. Representative Jim McCrery and editor of The Caddo Republican. His columns have appeared regularly in 318 Forum since 2007. Follow him on Facebook, on Twitter @louisravallone or by e-mail at louisavallone@mac.com, and on American Ground Radio at 101.7FM and 710 AM, weeknights from 6 - 7 p.m., and streaming live on keelnews.com.