The magical thinking of those two are the seeds of US society today and all the fruits (good and bad) can probably be linked to the ideas of one of the two.
> There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge”.
See also book by Tom Nichols (a now-retired professor from U.S. Naval War College):
> “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge”
I think a more apt description is the misconception that democracy supposedly means everybody gets their "equal proper timeshare of being considered correct".
Anti-intellectualism in the US goes back decades (if not centuries):
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism_in_Americ...
The first two US colonies were Jamestown (looking for El Dorado North; gold; riches) and Plymouth (religious society):
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasyland:_How_America_Went_...
* https://www.kurtandersen.com/fantasyland
The magical thinking of those two are the seeds of US society today and all the fruits (good and bad) can probably be linked to the ideas of one of the two.