Reply #36: Edwards is like Thomas Jefferson? [View All]

Well, not really, although Edwards is probably the closest of the Big 3 candidates, especially after this.

Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia as a *free* university because of his belief that the family you're born into (and resultant financial resources) shouldn't determine your ability to obtain a quality education.

Jefferson also believed that we can't have a democracy without informed citizens, and he couldn't have been more right.

The sad thing is, we used to have free school (aka, tax subsidized) at the university level in this country as recently as the 1960's in some places, but Ronald Reagan put the final dagger in it as Governor of California.

Obviously not everyone has the skill set and or desire to obtain a college degree, but so what? For them we can have free trade/technical school, etc. This shouldn't be viewed as an expense, but rather than investment in the US economy. Besides, the best anti-poverty/anti-crime program is a *job* with solid pay and benefits.

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