Posted on 09/07/2020 9:16:09 AM PDT by Theoria
It’s having a corrosive effect on American life — and hurting the Democratic Party.
Joe Biden has a secret weapon in his bid for the presidency: He is the first Democratic nominee in 36 years without a degree from an Ivy League university.
This is a potential strength. One of the sources of Donald Trump’s political appeal has been his ability to tap into resentment against meritocratic elites. By the time of Mr. Trump’s election, the Democratic Party had become a party of technocratic liberalism more congenial to the professional classes than to the blue-collar and middle-class voters who once constituted its base. In 2016, two-thirds of whites without a college degree voted for Mr. Trump, while Hillary Clinton won more than 70 percent of voters with advanced degrees.
Being untainted by the Ivy League credentials of his predecessors may enable Mr. Biden to connect more readily with the blue-collar workers the Democratic Party has struggled to attract in recent years. More important, this aspect of his candidacy should prompt us to reconsider the meritocratic political project that has come to define contemporary liberalism.
At the heart of this project are two ideas: First, in a global, technological age, higher education is the key to upward mobility, material success and social esteem. Second, if everyone has an equal chance to rise, those who land on top deserve the rewards their talents bring.
This way of thinking is so familiar that it seems to define the American dream. But it has come to dominate our politics only in recent decades. And despite its inspiring promise of success based on merit, it has a dark side.
Building a politics around the idea that a college degree is a precondition for dignified work and social esteem has a corrosive effect on democratic life.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I know who Biden connects with. I don’t think it’s reciprocated, though.
Methinks any disdain in that area is for the “indoctrinated’, not the truly educated.
And this is in part perpetrated by so-called “professors” in various courses with intellectual firepower such as “Underwater Lesbian Dance, and “How to use gasoline to create a BLM Fire”.
I’m fairly certain that every government entity in this country has codified legal discrimination against heterosexual white males, so no, it’s far from the last acceptable prejudice.
Amazing that this article is coming from the same organ that ridicules Trump supporters for being less educated.
Will wonders never cease?
You can’t connect with ordinary Americans when you’ve been a Beltway lapdog for decades.
>>Joe Biden has a secret weapon in his bid for the presidency: He is the first Democratic nominee in 36 years without a degree from an Ivy League university.
Joe Biteme didn’t even fare well at a regular school.
-PJ
In every big city in America, the dominant, most reliable voting bloc includes a high number of high school dropouts and those who function at a less than third grade education level.
Joe is not a "meritocratic elite."
He sold his influence to the highest bidder.
That is the opposite of a meritocracy.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, DID earn his billions by being able to discern value and build where it would return the mose.
There is a notorious video clip of Biden from more than thirty years ago, which shows him bragging about his IQ & his education while he harangues an ordinary American. It was all lies. It has even been made into an ad.
Restoration PAC | “Joe Biden - Unsuited Then, Unsuited Now”
https://youtu.be/PvZySPEOhRA
Exactly. The ‘uneducated’ haven’t drunk the Kool-aid, and they know it!
The New York Times manages to print a condescending article about arrogant people.
The irony is as thick as they are.
The one thing I’ve noticed on comment threads on various news sites, is that liberals like to call anyone on the right “uneducated,” when in reality, it is the other way around. They claim intellectual superiority, yet are the first ones to label you, and call you names because they can’t argue facts.
Disdain for less-educated whites is acceptable, but not accepable if it is directed at any less educated minority.
I couldn't agree more. Think back when John Kerry told kids that if they didn't get an education, they'd wind up in Iraq. That was so arrogant and so elitist, on so many levels, but he got away with it - because there is a D after his name (which rumor has it was a grade he was familiar with in college).
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Well, that’s a condescending article.
Go for it, Rats.
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