I'm not surprised this came from the Hoover Institute, or that TB posted it here in (ahem), Off-Topic. Once again this highlights the growing tension between Conservative politics and the academic community, indeed, with the very idea of the intellectual life, and the very value of academia. It is a threat, it must be demonized, marginalized, or at least, identified and demystified.

No I have no objection to what they are saying here, it may even be all true. But there is a subtle selection effect at work here, and an unmistakable subtext: what, where, when, who, and of course, why?

You don't need to go to college, real brains go into business, the real creativity is in entrepreneurial activity (as if business and entrepreneurship were the same thing). These intellectuals really can't be trusted, they envy the real talent, the people like us. We're the ones that really matter. Don't listen to them. They are a threat. And let's face it. They are. If they weren't, they wouldn't be doing their job.

That's what academic think tanks do, not just at Stanford, on the Right as well as the Left. They provide theoretical foundations to their ideological positions, which are then translated into publicly communicated and carefully targeted manifestos like this one, which lead to political action supporting specific agendas. It always boils down to an agenda. Follow the money.

Like I said, it's not so much what they're saying, it's the way it shows up.

Sorry, TB. I just couldn't resist. I'm just an academic at heart, just like you are an entrepreneur. Except neither of us has the street creds of either. 8)