In May of 2004 Henry Giroux, a creator of the field of critical pedagogy and a leading advocate for young people, democracy, and education in the United States, reluctantly left Penn State University after twelve years as a Distinguished Professor in the education department. He has been a critic of the corporatization of and conservative backlash against higher education. Many faculty throughout the university believed that the failure on the part of the university to retain Giroux not only revealed the incompetency of the current dean but also the pervasive nature and depth of the corporate vision shaping the university. In this interview, Giroux discusses his reasons for leaving Penn State, and his views about the increasing dumbing down and corporatization of its College of Education as well as the corporate influence on education in the United States. He also explains his observations that America is a society that appears momentarily to have given up on democratic visions and that such "ideological buffoons" as Chris Matthews and Bill O'Reilly symbolize the merging of entertainment, public pedagogy, and corporate power. He examines the complex factors involved in why young people largely refuse to participate in the political process, especially around voting. Finally, Giroux compares George W. Bush to John Kerry in view of the 2006 U.S. presidential elections, stating that "Kerry is no social democrat, but he is not the extremist that Bush represents."