The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.
Just three years ago, most of the country watched with dismay and horror as a violent MAGA mob beat back authorities and stormed the country’s citadel of democracy. The Donald Trump-incited crush of disillusioned rioters, fueled by a stream of fantastical lies, believed that the 2020 election had been stolen by sinister forces working to undermine the democratic election.
Of course, not only was their belief flatly incorrect, but evidence later emerged indicating that it was Trump who, in fact, had tried to subvert democracy.
Facts, however, have little bearing on the sentiment inside the Republican Party, which has been fed a steady diet of lies and half-truths by Fox News and the rest of the sprawling right-wing media machine. To wit, the false notion that Joe Biden nefariously stole the 2020 election is now widely shared inside the GOP. A CNN poll conducted over the summer found that nearly 70% of Republicans believe Biden’s win was not legitimate, a number that has continued to tick up.
Yeah, you’re right, some. It was trial lawyers and Ivy Leaguers who won labor rights in America, they argued the cases in courts and in public, and in Congress. Upton Sinclair went to Columbia. FDR went to Harvard and Columbia Law. Who organized the strikes?
Union Activists such as:
César Chávez - Folk hero and symbol of hope who organized a union of farm workers.
Eugene V. Debs - Apostle of industrial unionism.
William Green - Former AFL president who moved the federation toward “social reform unionism.”
Mother Jones - “The most dangerous woman in America.”
Lucy Randolph Mason - Social reformer dedicated to workers’ rights and racial justice.
A. Philip Randolph - Organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and fought discrimination in national defense.
None of these people had any post-secondary education yet were major players of the labor movement.
Post-secondary education doesn’t always equal progressive politics. There is the Chicago School of Economics, which according to Paul Douglas:
There is also conservative post-secondary educational institutes such as: Brigham Young University, Liberty University, Bob Jones University, etc.
While post-secondary education has been a tremendous boon. I really don’t care if they have post-secondary education or dropped out of elementary school. What metric we should be using is are people able to see the injustices in the world.