Dwain Northey (Gen X)

It is no mystery that the less informed a population is, the more uninvolved and disempowered it becomes in shaping the conditions of its own life. Knowledge is power, and without it, people are far more likely to accept the status quo, even when it works against their interests. When individuals lack the tools to critically assess their circumstances, question authority, or understand systemic forces at play, they become passive participants in their own oppression. This is not an accident—it’s a strategy. The less you know, the less likely you are to act. And that apathy is precisely what the current GOP thrives on.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the relentless attacks on the Department of Education under this administration. From slashing funding to promoting the privatization of schools, there is a concerted effort to gut public education and replace it with a market-driven model that prioritizes profit over people. This isn’t just about dollars—it’s ideological. A robust, accessible, and equitable education system equips individuals with the tools to question power, organize, and vote in ways that challenge entrenched hierarchies. That’s bad news for a party increasingly reliant on misinformation, culture wars, and gerrymandering to maintain its grip on power.

For the modern GOP, the dismantling of the Department of Education is not a side project—it’s a wet dream. Starving the public of education means starving them of civic literacy, historical context, and critical thinking skills. It means ensuring that generations of Americans are more concerned with performative patriotism than actual democratic participation. This is not about improving schools; it’s about neutralizing the public as a political force.

The less people understand about how systems of power operate, the more likely they are to internalize their own marginalization as a personal failure rather than a structural issue. That ignorance serves the GOP’s interests beautifully. It’s easier to sell scapegoating and slogans when the electorate has been deliberately undereducated and overwhelmed. And when you defund education, you don’t just save money—you silence dissent.

So, no, it’s not a mystery. It’s a strategy. And if we don’t push back, we are handing the keys of our future to those who benefit from a public kept in the dark.