Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost his state’s primaries to the unknown, up-and-coming Tea Partier and economics professor Dave Brat. Brat has claimed Ayn Rand as his intellectual hero, plugging Rand’s philosophy to his students at Randolph-Macon College.
However, Brat’s capitalist propaganda has not come solely of his own accord, but BB&T bank has paid Brat a $500,000 grant to teach classes based on the principles of Ayn Rand. Not only is Brat a proponent of terrible economics, the likes of which have destroyed America, he also favors the politicization and corporatization of higher learning.
BB&T started the program “The Moral Foundations of Capitalism” under the very same thinking. According to BB&T’s former board chairman:
We re-examined our charitable giving and realized that our contributions to universities
were not typically being used in our shareholders’ best interest. . . We became
convinced that the reason for this transformation was that the Left had taken over the
universities and educated future leaders, including teachers, in statist/collectivist ideas.
There’s also a correlative between how much money the banks spend at certain universities and the size and power of the program at each school. AlterNet reported that monetary amount ranges from $500,000 to $2 million. Currently, BB&T sponsors 68 programs at many of the country’s major universities.
Brat is perpetuating an ugly beast of corporations buying their way into education. It’s a practice that has increased exponentially in the past few decades. BB&T and Brat are in the same league with the likes of BP and Chevron, which have bought research at public universities in order to make their companies look good and increase their bottom line.
Companies are looking to privatize everything, and people like Brat must not be allowed on Capitol Hill.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
