They would know when they are being bullshitted or some clown is trying to manipulate them.

propaganda and advertising tricks in school. It's not that complicated but so many are fooled by this stuff.

If you have an authoritarian bent, the last thing you want is a bunch of people asking questions. You want obedience. And the world is full of people that want to be told what to do, to belong to a tribe or a club or a gang or a clan. That plays out everyday in our politics.

There is sort of a bootstrap problem, if you get enough people well enough educated and empowered, it becomes harder to reverse. Before then, it is relatively easy to drag us back into the Hobbesian mud with a bit of violence, xenophobia, and misdirection.

When I was a kid they still had civics classes and they were still trying to really educate us to compete with the commies. I have hidden under my school desk and kissed my ass goodbye. But they started vigorously dumbing it all back down after the Vietnam debacle. It was like we failed because they lost that stupid war. Correcting an "excess of democracy".

I think there is a large element of not wanting to pay for it too.

We are long past the point where we can afford to be dumb, or cheap.