Sadly, the U.S. has been sliding in a relative economic sense with other states for many years now, and this is a trend that is likely to continue... because of a lack of appropriate investment in education which is the real engine of economic growth...
. . .
For
economic growth, I agree. Education is very important.
But education as the engine for significant political change to get this country back on track and in the right direction, I'll have to disagree.
Even the most educated can be corrupted into thinking short-term for their own interests rather than for the interest and good of the people as a whole.
All presidents have highly educated pedigrees from some of the top IV League schools. Obama is from Harvard, Bush(with the help of his dad) got into Yale, etc
I think it's a matter of
character. Though education is part of it, I think the lack of character is what's causing this country to go down.
This country was built on the backbone of immigrants from all over the world. Our parents and grandparents or great grandparents were immigrants that came to this country for a better opportunity-they had to work their ass off to survive. Nothing was given to them, and that gave them a backbone-it built their
character. As they had kids, and their kids had kids, things were easier to come by because wealth was passed down from one generation to the next. We didn't have to work as hard as our grandparents and parents did because they paved the way for us. We got lazy, felt entitled, got complacent and rested on their laurels, and our characters got weak because of this.
Doesn't matter if you have a Harvard degree, or a degree from your local JC, Without a backbone and character, anyone can be bought and sold and lead the country in the wrong direction. And unfortunately, most of our political leaders are bought and sold by corporations, lobbyists and special interest groups. Our elected leaders can have the best education in the world, but if their characters are weak, then our country will be weak.
As for education for the masses, I agree it would help; but, the way that our political infrastructure is setup, the best qualified never make it as candidates. With a few exceptions to the rule, by and large it's usually only the wealthy individuals with the deepest pockets that make it as candidates for high gov offices. So even if you did educate the masses, and let's say the masses all had harvard degrees, if your only choices for president are wealthy people like Ross Perot, or Donald Trump, the country is still screwed. We need to change the politcal infrastructure to effect significant change, so that normal good hard-working smart americans with strong backbones can get elected and not just the rich.
. Still can believe grown people fell for that. Politics is awesome! 
