I've always said that if you can't share your opinion in a bumper sticker format, the American public will not take it seriously. Take immigration. One side says, "What part of illegal don't you understand?" Ridiculous, but it makes for a good bumper sticker. The other side responds with, "Once you look at this issue more deeply from different angles and break it down, you get a different point of view..." Most Americans automatically dismiss you if you lead with that kind of an answer, even though it's probably right.

As far as the plight of liberal arts education, I feel that pain deeply. Academia has lost its vision. We don't study the Great Books, because no one will agree on what those great books are anymore. You have yours, I have mine. In the vacuum, corporate interests have hijacked education. 

The debate between studying the western classics and multiculturalism is important and valid and very, very complex, but the problem it has left academia with a lack of vision.