PZ at Pharyngula quotes heavily from and comments on an Esquire article (which will cost you to read online) called Welcome to Idiot America. In it the author makes the case that we have the "breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good".
In the place of expertise, we have elevated the Gut, and the Gut is a moron, as anyone who has ever tossed a golf club, punched a wall, or kicked an errant lawn mower knows. We occasionally dress up the Gut by calling it "common sense." The president’s former advisor on medical ethics regularly refers to the "yuck factor." The Gut is common. It is democratic. It is the roiling repository of dark and ancient fears. Worst of all, the Gut is faith-based.
Translation: politicians and others may speechify about how much they support "education" but too many of them don’t believe it. You don’t need an education or knowledge to make good public policy decisions – only good "common sense".
Go read Paul’s entire post. Very scary stuff.