An extremely prominent policy proposal which has been embraced by the liberals in the United States is that public universities and colleges should be tuition-free institutions. A Pew Research poll conducted in 2020 found that 83 percent of democrats and left-leaning independents support this proposal. Despite its popularity, the idea of “free” college in the United States is one that is extremely dangerous, because it continues to be embraced by moderates and opens the door for government indoctrination.
One of the reasons why this policy is so prominent in the national discourse is because it is not just embraced by radicals like Bernie Sanders. Presidential nominee Joe Biden, who presents himself as a moderate, adopted a modified version of Sanders’ plan in a bid to gain more progressive voters. His plan would make public colleges and universities tuition free for people earning less than $125,000 per year which is a significant portion of the population. It is also important to note that this is a plan that was proposed by Bernie Sanders in the past.
His embrace of this radical policy illustrates an important dynamic within the democratic party which you could call the progressive lag effect. It occurs when a progressive leader like Bernie Sanders infuses an idea into the public mind like free college for some people. Although it might have seemed absurd in the past, it gradually gains traction as people come around to his way of thinking.
Meanwhile, progressives have moved on from wanting free college for some and want free college for everyone. Eventually, the lag will catch up and democratic party leaders will be calling for this proposal while Sander’s followers move on to something more progressive.
However, the main danger with the idea of tuition free college for everyone, or even just people making less than $125,000 per year does not have anything to do with increased taxes or the removal of individual responsibility (although these are also problems). The main danger of “free” college is that it opens up the door to total government run indoctrination.
In fact, one of the reasons why indoctrination is so prominent on college campuses is because tuition increases allow universities to hire more administrators that serve their leftist purposes. However, they are only able to make these tuition increases because of government subsidies which guarantee loans to students. By making all public colleges “free” the government would be eliminating many cost barriers to universities, which would allow them to hire even more administrators, who often drive on campus neo-marxist events.
Subsidizing college even more would actually be subsidizing revolution. The people who are currently rioting and their leaders, are often college educated. They have been steeped in critical race theory nonsense which erodes the foundations of society. When they go to college they don’t hear anything about America being good, all they hear is that it is evil at the core. When you tell someone this, how do you expect them to react? If America is truly like Nazi Germany, then that would make black people like the Jews. The Jews certainly had a right to kill and burn and pillage in the streets of Nazi Germany. So why shouldn’t these college grads do it to America?
If free college were ever made a reality, those who supported it would be contributing to our society’s destruction. College is merely a credential and people measure its value through a cost benefit analysis. If your future earnings aren’t going to be improved enough for you to pay off your degree and have a higher standard of living, then you shouldn’t go to college. However, people like Bernie Sanders know that college has become much more powerful than a credential. It is a center for indoctrination that allows neo-marxists to push forth seemingly just views on unsuspecting students. Subsidizing college is subsidizing revolution.
Your humble servant,
Silence Dogood
