I think Rubio is a fine candidate, even as I mock his knee-jerk, factually incorrect anti-intellectual snub about philosophers.

We shouldn’t lose his point, even though he did: there is nothing wrong with vocational education, and anybody who wants to become a welder should get our support, too, in investing in himself/herself to pursue a career. I don’t know what the deal is in Rubio’s mind, i.e., whether he thinks the world should be “business kings astride the world” and “obedient drones who obey” or what), but it seems to me that not everybody is smart in the same in the same way. Some people are good with numbers; some are good with images; some are good with their hands; and some are good with words. For me, I like to try my hand at a lot of things, but let’s not kid ourselves: I had a preternatural affinity for words and reading when I was a child, and that’s still my best, most productive form of work. But welding is honorable, productive, and important work, and I think vocational education is important, too.

Just as a side note, philosophy is a highly technical field, and contrary to what Rubio likely suspects, there are a lot of conservative philosophers writing very succuessfully, and to large audiences; it’s not all the race, class, gender stuff that is likely to irritate him. Just for one, pick up Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue.