In addition the fact that Ramaswamy is coming off like a bitter nerd who was taunted for it in junior high, the STAGGERING levels of self-delusion involved in even saying – let alone actually believing – that Trump’s presidency can usher in anything like this is insane. You think that the world’s most mediocre man, a stupid, selfish and narcissistic boor who is the literal embodiment of laziness over hard work, is interested in changing our culture? Or interested in doing anything other than telling you what you want to hear and staying out of federal prison?

It’s pretty funny that Ramaswamy’s cultural references for nerdiness are all from thirty years ago, though. And he CLEARLY didn’t actually watch Saved by the Bell. Zach and Slater were both smart AND popular. Screech was just weird, not smart. He lacked popularity because he was annoying, not because he was smart. A predicament I suspect Ramaswamy has found himself in, whether he realizes it or not. I digress.

Ramaswamy’s relentless pandering aside, he’s not entirely wrong, here. And whoo, boy, cue the pitchforks from Trump’s base. Although I must say that the backlash hasn’t been quite as brutal as I imagine it would have been if a Democrat had said the exact same thing. American culture DOES venerate mediocrity. And Trump supporters are a prime example of what happens when we normalize it. The cognitive dissonance is incredible – you support a guy who wants to dismantle the Department of Education, who makes fun of college and smart people, who says it’s not necessary to get an education, who says college is liberal indoctrination, and you eat that up, and you foster the culture of mistrusting scientists and teachers and smart people, and then you have the absolute AUDACITY to wonder why you’re uneducated and unqualified for STEM jobs?

Please.

This isn’t rocket science, it’s getting what you voted for. Reaping what you’ve sown. Disdain education, find yourself uneducated and unqualified for jobs that require it. And because so MANY people have done just that, of COURSE we have to hire foreign skilled labor to be competitive.

Not to mention, foreign skilled labor is beholden to the companies that sponsor them and cheaper than American labor, so there’s that aspect, too. It’s a form of modern indentured servitude. If tech corporations can hire 3 foreign engineers for the price of one or two American ones, and the foreign engineers are obligated to work for you or go home and be happy about it, is that a very tough choice for a company when they’re hiring?

And have you noticed that these billionaire tech bros aren’t telling THEIR children that college is unnecessary and a waste of time, they’re only telling YOUR kids that. Because they don’t care about Americans, they care about profits, and they’re benefiting from Americans being ignorant. That’s the bottom line. We need to make America SMART again, and we don’t do that by encouraging people to loathe and mistrust higher education.

So Ramaswamy isn’t wrong, he’s just in the wrong party if he’s serious (spoiler: he’s not a serious person.) Republicans have spent 40+ years dumbing down Americans by design, and it’s because educated people don’t vote Republican / vote against their own interests, unless they’re rich and enjoy the Republican policies that disproportionally benefit the wealthy. Republicans have never been the party of Americans first. Examine their actions, not their words.

Ask any retired teacher when The Dumbening started, and many will tell you that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, enacted under Republican George W. Bush, basically crippled education because suddenly, schools were required to meet certain academic standards as a school to receive federal funding, which they desperately need. “But”, you say, “why is it bad to be held to certain academic standards? Isn’t that a GOOD thing?” Not when those standards are evaluated by testing students, no. It resulted in teachers not teaching children how to think for themselves, but how to memorize the right answers and how to take tests, so that their schools would get their funding.

Not to mention, there were no federal standards – states set their own standards. This means that “highly qualified” was a subjective term when we’re talking about what kinds of teachers were hired. No Child Left Behind being an abject failure is fodder for several other articles. Needless to say, requiring every student by law to be “above average”, isn’t how averages work.

That’s just likely where The Dumbening By Policy started. The cultural shift towards dumb started well before that, with the revocation of the Fairness Doctrine, reality television, the celebration of cretins by Hollywood¹, parents letting video games and YouTube babysit their children for hours on end instead of talking to them, et al.

Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Susan Jacoby², author of “The Age of Unreason”, from 2008:

JACOBY: Well, people have thought in terms of what kind of politics we’d have in the future in a stupid society. Aldous Huxley thought about it in “Brave New World”, which I think is much more of a paradigm of what we have today than even than Orwell’s. Orwell’s, Orwell’s embodied and idea of a tyranny from the top. But Huxley’s, I think, and I’m not the first person to say this, Neil Postman made this observation first. Huxley envisioned a world in which people wouldn’t care very much about what their rulers were doing because they were sort of drugged by pleasure…in his case, literally drugged. Our drug, in addition to literal drugs, our drug is this infotainment that surrounds us. And I, I think that we have already had a vision of what the future would be like in a society more extreme than ours.

And I don’t see anything to do except try to fight it with those people who are willing to fight it. There are teachers who are willing to fight it. There are parents who are willing to fight it. I don’t want to think about the creation of a culture, which will happen anyway, if we continue to go the way we’re going… I don’t want to think about the creation of a form of politics that would be as dumb as we have become so far.

Needless to say, we haven’t gone in the right direction since 2008 when Jacoby predicted this.

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free…it expects what never was and never will be.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1816

In other words, ignorance turns us into subjects rather than freemen. And that’s exactly what Republicans want. (Democrats are guilty too, but perhaps not AS guilty of this.) Needless to say, be very wary of the party who doesn’t want you to get educated, who wants to ban books, who tells you to fear smart people and teachers. They have an agenda, and it’s not in your best interests.

Anyway, Musk came in and doubled down, which REALLY infuriated Trump’s base.

They were all about screeching “retard” at anyone on the left the second Trump called Kamala Harris retarded, but didn’t take too kindly to our crazy de facto co-president calling them retarded. Go figure. To sum up, Musk and his DOGE sidekick, Ramaswamy, along with many on the right, want to eliminate the Department of Education and severely restrict immigration, all while lamenting the fact that America doesn’t have enough skilled workers to do tech jobs, so they want to bring in immigrants. I’m not going to use the r-word, but it certainly applies to that logic.

Elon and Vivek have both gone on the record trashing college, by the way. Think I’m joking about the way they feel about us? Think again. They don’t want to invest in Americans. They’ve said it out loud.

Investing in Americans is really hard, you guys.

But Elmo, despite being literally the richest man on the planet, kept doubling down.

Seriously, this guy could be naked on a yacht in the South Pacific, surrounded by a hundred gorgeous women, and he spends his time frothing on social media.

Aaaaand, then Elon lost his shit.

Apparently, if you don’t support him and agree with his opinion, you can “FUCK YOURSELF in the face.” He seems mentally healthy, right? Perfectly okay that he’s running an unofficial government agency, right? Even Steve Bannon, the human equivalent of a herpes sore, seemed concerned:

So. How do we make America smart again? Certainly not by electing this ridiculous circus of people. Brace yourself, my answer might be “woke.” It’s going to have to be a multifaceted approach requiring systemic, community-based, and individual-level approaches. The Dumbening has been intentional, and it needs to be reversed with intention.

First, we start with educational reform. No, not by dismantling the Department of Education.

1. Re-evaluate testing metrics. Move away from excessive standardized testing that prioritizes rote memorization over critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. Implement project-based learning and portfolios that showcase real understanding.

2. Invest in teacher development. Provide ongoing training for teachers to use modern pedagogies and teach critical thinking, creativity, and adaptability.

3. Prioritize equity in education. Here’s the woke part! You have to address funding gaps between schools in wealthy vs. underprivileged areas. Access to resources like libraries, arts, and STEM programs is essential.

4. Revitalize civics and media literacy education. I can’t stress this one enough. We have to teach people how to analyze and evaluate information critically, understand bias, and recognize misinformation. I did a whole PDF touching on the basics that, you can download it here. 

5. Encourage humanities curriculum. Incorporate philosophy, ethics, and cultural studies into K-12 education to foster deeper understanding and critical thinking.

This means, in terms of concrete policy, increasing educational funding, strengthening public libraries and community learning centers, and regulating educational technology and platforms to prioritize learning outcomes over profits. It means pushing for higher teacher salaries, better facilities, and affordable higher education. It means attracting and retaining top talent in education. It means making lifelong learning accessible to everyone, especially in underserved areas.

Next, we tackle the cultural shift.

We start by celebrating intellectual achievement and challenging anti-intellectualism. Highlight scientists, artists, writers, and thinkers as role models, just as athletes and entertainers are celebrated. If I’m putting on my marketing hat, we do a media campaign showcasing real-life “heroes of knowledge.” Then, we promote open dialogues that value expertise and evidence over opinion. We encourage people and communities to celebrate learning as a lifelong process. We stop elevating idiots to celebrity idiot levels. We stop vilifying educated leaders as “elitists.”

Culturally, we need to destigmatize failure. Learning from mistakes should be seen as a vital part of personal and professional growth, not as a failure. We start promoting art, music, and humanities. A culture steeped in creative thinking fosters innovation. Public funding for the arts and community programs can help reignite passion for cultural pursuits. Not to mention, exposure to other cultures combats knee-jerk racism.

Finally, we HOLD THE MEDIA ACCOUNTABLE. Start supporting media that produces factual, in-depth, thoughtful content, rather than oversimplified sensationalist clickbait. We CALL THEM OUT when they frame something disingenuously, or outright lie to us. We stop supporting liars and rewarding lies with clicks, listens, and watches.

Practically speaking, this means leading by example. Parents and leaders can model curiosity, reading, and intellectual engagement at home and in their communities. This means volunteering in schools, offering mentorships, teaching supplemental classes, or helping with after school programs. This means engaging in local school boards and advocating for policies that align with education excellence and equity, not with banning books and punishing diversity. And yes, this means supporting high-quality media.

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness…” – Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1995

Ramaswamy isn’t wrong that Americans need to stop venerating mediocrity (which is ironic, considering that he’s an eminently mediocre fraud who is desperately clinging to the spotlight by publicly worshiping another mediocre fraud). This begins by redefining success and celebrating achievements rooted in hard work, innovation, and societal contribution, rather than purely financial or superficial success. If you didn’t read between the lines, this would not define Ramaswamy himself, or Musk, or Trump, as successful people. It defines them as merely rich people, at least two of whom got that way by ripping people off and outright fraud. This begins by promoting diverse role models who embody excellence, resilience, and creativity. It means creating spaces for intellectual discourse in the form of forums, community events, and using online platforms that prioritize meaningful conversations and solutions, rather than tweaking the algorithms to amplify dangerous misinformation.

Most importantly, it means holding public figures like Trump accountable. We need to challenge our leaders, influencers, and media personalities to uphold higher intellectual and moral standards. Trump got where he is by doing the exact opposite of all of that. Reversing it starts by pushing back against the anti-intellectualism that made him so popular. People didn’t used to be proud to be ignorant and amoral. That’s a problem. Is it an unsurmountable problem? No. But like any problem, it requires real, hard, thoughtful work to resolve it. The oligarchy is banking on Americans not being up to that task.

Thanks for joining me. Until next time, stay rational!

E.T. Parker