I wrote one of the most popular posts on this blog on Independence Day. My subject was the outstanding book by the young journalist Daniel Brook, The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America. The book’s on how conservative ideology, in the guise of selling freedom, has destroyed genuine freedom in the United States:

stifling the energy and talent of the individual, crushing creative differences, forcing conformity – and, yes, even leading us to despotism (and I’m not talking about habeas corpus or NSA spying). By methodically undermining the public’s will and ability to underwrite the public good, systematically accelerating economic inequality, and making turning oneself into a commodity – “selling out” – the only possible route for young people who wish a reasonably secure middle class existence, conservatives killed liberty. The canary in the coal mine is the death of young people’s “freedom to live adult lives typified by choice rather than economic compulsion.”

As I noted, Brook best example is what they’ve done to affordable higher education—

Take the destruction of affordable public college education – a development for which Ronald Reagan was in the forefront, as the first governor of California to impose a tuition for students at state universities. WWTJD – What Would Thomas Jefferson Do? He expressly established the University of Virginia as a haven for bright students “Whose parents are too poor to given them further education,” who Jefferson proposed could be “carried at public expense through the colleges and university.” Now, at the University of Virginia, only 8 percent of the students come from the bottom half of Virginia families, and only 8 percent of the 2005 budget came from taxpayer funds. They should take down the statue of Jefferson. It’s not his university any more.

It’s been bad—really bad. Before Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Pell grants covered about 75 percent of the typical college tuition. Now it’s less than a third. What’s even worse, the average college student graduates $19,000 in debt. The “college loan industry” is a straight up crony capitalism boondoggle: government subsidizes the poor, poor banks to loan the money at seven or eight percent, but if the government just handled the loans itself, the interest rate, as Michael Kinsley eloquently explained this weekend in the Washington Post, they could charge students only three or four percent.

But then, if the government just handled the loan itself, banks wouldn’t be able to bribe university financial aid officers with generous kickbacks. Sums Michael the K: “When the government is giving away free money — which is what the program amounts to (and I mean giving it away to the banks, not to the students) — it’s worth a good deal to get cut in on such a good deal.”

Well, I’m here with two fine pieces of good news.

The first is that the Democratic Congress has just passed a bill to wrench things back in the right direction. Among other things, the Higher Education Access Act hikes the top Pell grant from $4,050 to $5,400, temporarily cuts interest rates on subsidized loans in half, forgives loans for students going into public service fields like early childhood education and firefighting, and forbids repayment terms that are more than 15 percent of earnings. Supporters are calling it the largest single investment in college aid since the G.I. bill.

And, wonder of wonders, the President has announced he will sign it.

Here the other piece of good news. It’s for Big Con readers in Chicago. This Wednesday night, September 19, at 7 o’clock, I’ll be hosting a discussion with The Trap‘s Daniel Brook at the offices of In These Times, 2040 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicagoans who’ve never attended an event at In These Times should especially consider coming out. ITT is Chicagoland’s progressive clubhouse, and if you’re looking for fellow travelers to hang out with, this is the place.

And there’s this: The first, oh, let’s say, three dudes who come up to me and say, “I read The Big Con” will get a beer afterwards on me.