It's not too late for the Dems to draft somebody else

Anti-intellectualism is found in every nation on earth. Americans, among others, have been accused quite vocally of suffering from it, particularly by the liberal literati both in the USA and in Europe. Such accusations are particularly fueled by existence of the political schism between the Republican and Democratic parties which prompt the less scrupulous contenders on both sides use it as a term of abuse for their opponents. By comparison societies in Europe and Asia are much more politically homogenous.

Historically, anti-intellectualism did play a prominent role in American culture. Some of it originated from the commonly held view among conservative Christians of old that education subverts morality and religious belief. The validity of this view, in fact, was well substantiated by the spread of atheism and Deism among the educated during the Enlightenment. Hence, for instance, the New England Puritan writer John Cotton wrote in 1642 that "The more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee."

A much more important historical source of anti-intellectualism has been the 19th century popular culture. At the time when the vast majority of the population was involved in manual labor, bookish education, which at the time focused on classics, was seen to have little value. It should be noted that Americans of the era were generally very literate and, in fact, read Shakespeare much more than their present day counterparts. However, the ideal at the time was an individual skilled and successful in his trade and a productive member of society; studies of classics and Latin in colleges were generally derided in popular culture. Anti-intellectual folklore values the self-reliant and "self-made man," schooled by society and by experience, over the intellectual whose learning was acquired through books and formal study. A character of O'Henry has noted that once a graduate of an East Coast college gets over being vain, he makes just as good a cowboy as any other young man.

Today both of the factors discussed above are pretty much non-existent in America. Christian thinkers, who no longer have much influence in society in any event, no longer consider education in general evil, although they may object to some of its specific un-Christian aspects, e.g. alleged anti-religious propaganda in schools and colleges. The ideal of the self-made man without schooling has also disappeared together with the once-plentiful manual jobs; in today's society education is generally seen as essential and roughly speaking most everybody either graduated from college or is hoping to do so sooner or later.

A major preserve of real, militant anti-intellectualism in today's America (as perhaps in many other countries) is a youth subculture often associated with those students who are more interested in social life and athletics than in their studies. Such subculture exists among students of all groups, although among Asians Americans it is reputedly much less pronounced. On the other hand, there exists much anecdotal evidence of anti-intellectualism among African American youth who may consider focusing on school studies a "white" thing. Needless to say, there are plenty of loafers and anti-intellectuals among white students also.

Perceived lack of "real life" usefulness, as well as, allegedly, academic rigor in humanities studies in the universities have contributed to much disdain for such studies, particularly among those who study, or have studied, technical subjects. This may be considered anti-intellectualism, or perhaps a "rival-intellectualism" inasmuch as people, who may think that intellectual pursuit of study of English literature is useless, may think that studying mechanical engineering, which is an intellectual activity of no little complexity, is useful and good. A characteristic criticism, not necessarily valid by any means, of the study of humanities is that teaching students literature prepares them to become future professors of literature.

American educational system also serves as a significant wellspring of anti-intellectualism in its reputed failure to impart the necessary knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about the world to its students, of which see below.