Hi Jayne,

Thank you for your comments.

First, I should clarify that I dropped out of Harvard and never got my PhD. The job market for historians was terrible in the late 1970s so I decided to begin a career in journalism. So I am a little less elitist than I may have come across.

:)

Your story about your grandparents is worth noting. It’s quite clear that a lot of smart people don’t go to college. One of my closest friends is a handyman who never attended college and he’s whip smart. All I tried to say is that people with a college education are less likely to be taken in by demagogues and I think the research shows this. Is this causal or correlation? I suspect it’s causal. Education teaches us critical thinking skills – or should. And these help us see through charlatans.

As for your second point: I admit to not having given this any thought and will now do so.

1. My grandparents and great grandparents did not have college educations. They were sophisticated, intelligent participants in political discussions and political life. They understood labor organizing and my great grandfather could quote Gramsci at you (in Italian). I have also spoken with an Old Order farmer in our area who understood US agriculture policy and trade agreements better than most college-educated people I know. Perhaps the problem is with our educational system. Perhaps our K-12 system has been dumbed down and our culture has demeaned the working class in ways that didn’t happen before. Maybe we in higher education need to do a little soul searching about elitist attitudes that make others feel dismissed and diminished. Maybe we need to revamp our K-12 educational system.

2. By his own accounts, people might join militia groups because they feel threatened and fearful. In reality, militia groups are not all alike and the individuals in them are not all there for the same reason. Yes, there is a serious problem with white supremacist groups and they have formed their own militia organizations and are making a concerted effort to infiltrate other militia organizations that did not form around white identity grievance. But if we want to build a bridge for dialogue in order to defuse potential violence, using the term terrorist or vigilante will be no more effective with these groups than it was with the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups expressing legitimate grievances about policies in the Middle East. I recommend we use strictly descriptive language. Self-organized armed groups. If we start with that, we might be able to have conversations. And, with conversations, perhaps we can encourage folks who are feeling threatened to not express their fears through violence.