Vonnegut, who wrote books such as "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus," died Wednesday at 84.

Although he had stopped writing novels several years ago, he continued to write articles and to lecture regularly, exhorting audiences to think for themselves.

Think for yourself...? Politicians vote by corporate campaign contributions to their PACs and polls. Americans follow every get rich scheme from flipping real estate to stock market "wizardry," and our students probably don't know who Kurt Vonnegut is and aren't savvy enough to even go on-line for the "Cliff Note" version. Thinking for themselves? Think again.