The myth of the uneducated voter

Ever since the media pushed the argument about uneducated voters supporting Donald Trump, I have considered writing about some serious issues that I have with the argument. Today, I read an article that helped me make up my mind. The Seattle Times posted a piece of liberal trash by someone who seemed absolutely clueless about what he was writing.


Let me start with common sense. Education is impossible to accurately measure. Even if an acceptable measure emerged, there would be no definitive line between educated and uneducated. In most cases, the media is using graduation from college as their line. No rational person will buy the argument that all college graduates are better educated that everyone who lacks a degree.

I want to go back to my schooling history and explain part of what I went through again. I used to be driven by grades and prided myself on always being the top student in my math class. In high school, I realized that my thought process was weak. When I stopped allowing my teachers to dictate what I thought, my grades plummeted. I started failing classes.

Everyone told me that Running Start would fix my problems. Running Start is a program in Washington State that allows high school students to take classes at a community college. I didn't last because college turned out to be the exact same mind-numbing environment as high school. I was not content living the mindless lifestyle demanded by college.

Looking back, there is nothing that I can actually credit my schools for teaching me. While mentally imprisoned in our schools, I struggled with excessive repetition and the prohibition of progress. I would be better educated today if I would have found the courage to drop out of school.

Through most of the article, the writer treats college as a valid tool to fight mindlessness. He contradicted this toward the end when he insisted that the schools should teach how to think, not what to think. That final thought is certainly more accurate than what he wrote above that statement.

I want to make one thing clear. I am not a supporter of Donald Trump. I find him to be an egotist who was willing to say or do anything to become president. He wanted the spotlight and has repeatedly proven that he values himself far more than the people he is supposed to represent. In other words, he is just like Hillary Clinton, another lousy politician that I would never support.

Mixed in with the arguments about uneducated voters is how uninformed voters are. This is also aimed primarily at Trump supporters. It's the media that's pushing this argument, and the same media gets to control what we do and do not know about certain individuals. By flooding the Internet with skewed statistics, quotes and facts without proper context, and opinion pieces poorly disguised as legitimate journalism, information of real value is becoming nearly impossible to find.

The idea that uneducated and uninformed voters won the presidency for Trump is clearly a myth. This isn't because Trump supporters should be considered educated. It's because Hillary Clinton ended up with nearly three million more votes from uninformed voters than Trump. Unfortunately, the media has downplayed how Clinton also benefited from the same flaws as Trump.