My comment is in moderation. Thanks.

I think you have put your fingers on the rub of the matter. What you’ve called “unsophisticated views” exists in an entirely different metaphysical paradigm than what is taught at universities. If “education” as such is predicated on advancing views that agrees with a secular/atheistic cosmology, then I agree with you that, in all likelihood, liberals have more of an education than conservatives. However, education of this sort does not denote, nor does it connote an increased intelligence or a more apt ability in the creation of wealth.

In other words, it does not necessarily follow that belief in evolution and global warming would translate into having “superior views on free trade and markets”. One sphere of knowledge does not lead to the other, and to claim that this is so is a remarkable leap in deduction, one which I’m not usually accustomed to.

These beliefs, however, can possibly open doors that would lead to affluence, doors that would otherwise be closed had one believed in a traditional Christian concept of God Almighty. People usually like to associated themselves with like-minded people to the exclusion of all others. This doesn’t have to be a nefarious, conspiratorial dynamic. It’s just what people do. With universities hiring almost exclusively like-minded liberals, is it surprising that such institutions would draw and produce like-minded people?

And as you’ve put your finger on it, universities degrees and other degrees in higher learning are a great aid in the acquisition of more wealth. I agree with your observation actually, so we don’t disagree on this point.

If I may, I think the old “truism” that older, wealthy people tend to be Republicans was a false description of a real phenomenon. When that observation was made, I’m guessing around the middle of the 20th century, it described the current state of America. But as America shifted, as you pointed out in this post, so did the political mores of our economic “classes”.

I think relationship between affluence and political affiliation could be better understood in terms of cohort groups. The cohort group of the circa 1950′s to 1970′s who were older and affluent and tended to be more conservative. They were also the generation that went through the Great Depression, fought in WWII and even possibly fought in WWI and the Korean War as well. And being naturally conservative after all the horrors they’ve seen, the Democratic Party AND the Republican Party were much more conservative than they are now.

However, the generation in power now in America were those rebellious men and women during the 1960′s and 1970′s. They were the cohort group that were young and less affluent, and I think they were restrained in the 1960′s and 1970′s (in what I can only describe as darn near insurrection) by the overwhelming preponderance of their older, conservative parents.

The politicians in our Congress, peopling our state legislatures, holding offices in our city councils ARE the generation of radicals that threw rocks at the police, that burnt the American flag, etc.

Not everyone of the Baby Boomer generation did this, of course. On the one hand, we have Noam Chomsky. On the other, we have David Horowitz. There were many positive things that the Boomers did, such as the explosion in creativity, music, etc., (They didn’t do Civil Rights, as they like to claim, but their parents did.) but they were also the most destructive force in American history as well, perhaps even the history of Western Civilization when all’s said and done.

Wealth, I think, has less to do with political affiliation than the cohort groups, Bookworm. I think that in another couple generations, should we be so fortunate to see it, America will swing back the other way in its conservatism.

I see this return to conservatism as yet another swing in the cycle of American history (and yes, I think our history and the history of Western Civilization runs in cycles). The scary part to me, if history were to repeat itself in a very similar manner, is that the so-called Greatest Generation got to being what it was by going through trial by fire. World War I. The Great Depression. The Dust Bowl. World War II. The Cold War.

History might not repeat itself in exactly the same way, but if it’s similar to the major events I just broadly outlined, we’re going to be in for some chop…

And you think that is a better answer than Book’s? I doubt it.