If people were capable of critical thinking do you think they would vote for Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, or even George W Bush?
Name me one liberal arts curriculum that actually emphasizes analysis and thinking.
About the only useful job skill you can get out of them is that you will have to associate with several professors who belong to different departments that like to imagine their field of study is the only one in the world, or at least he only important one. They will likely be assholes about this and the fact you are a dilettante in their subject matter. Navigating a minefield of assholes who are all trying to steer the same ship in different directions is a useful life skill.
Given a GOOD choice? No. Given the actual choice presented, thinkers vote on narrow issues. Choose any narrow issue and you can winnow down the choice to the preferred candidate by asking who will benefit your issue most, and failing a good answer there, who will potentially harm it least.
But given a choice between Obama, Bachman, and Palin? I'd stay home because Obama is not on my side on such a large number of issues with his ideology. While he acts pragmatically for many situations, and when he does, I often think he chooses reasonably, I have found no pattern to where he chooses ideology over pragmatism. Except for fellating Goldman Sachs. I wouldn't choose Palin because at best she is a cynical attention whore. Obama is bad enough with occasionally narcissistic ego trips that have nothing to do with either being an ideologue or pragmatic leader, I don't want that 24-7. Bachman is either a willfully ignorant loon, or is willing to take pandering to sociopath levels despite being informed.
The curriculum thingy? Maybe when I get home. Meanwhile:
"The aim of liberal education is to create persons who have the ability and the disposition to try to reach agreements on matters of fact, theory, and actions through rational discussions." "The Aim of Liberal Education," DiText, September 1, 2003. Compiled by Andrew Chrucky
"The aim of liberal education is to create persons who have the ability and the disposition to try to reach agreements on matters of fact, theory, and actions through rational discussions provide some kind of courses to those that don't want to be doctors, lawyers, or engineers so that schools can still make money off of the belief that 'you have to go to college to make it in the world'." "The Aim of Liberal Education," DiText, September 1, 2003. Compiled by Andrew Chrucky
*fixt
How great would it be if everybody were doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Effing utopia right there. 
Liberal education is different than liberal arts.
The aim of liberal education are to ensure the supply of candidates exceeds the positions in academia.
The aim of liberal arts is to have an easy degree academic drifters can graduate with instead of adding to a school's dropout rate in the big book of colleges. It's also there to find some place to turf academic underachievers who can throw a football real good and other similar athletic talents.
Perhaps you missed my point. I don't feel a college education is necessary to be successful these days. Some of the smartest and wealthiest people I know didn't attend college.
And we could certainly do without the damn lawyers. Bastids. 
Thinking is a left brained, non liberal artist trait and very non-useful, uncreative and non-group thought oriented. Right brainer liberal artists, journalists, actors, etc. are left thinking, creative people who correctly base decisions on emotion rather than logic and rightly demand taxpayer support for their fruitfil artistic endeavors like welding a bunch of rusty scrap iron together in a contorted shape and then letting it rust more wile it sits somewhere with a price tag on it. Do you think a left brainer has the artististic creativity and insight to do that - hah! If businesses demand only dull people left brainers like economists, no wonder the US debt has been downgraded.
Result and aim don't always match up exactly, jerk. If they did, I'd always bowl 300. Tax cuts for the wealthiest, corporations, and subsidies for oil co.s etc. hasn't created jobs or helped the working class one iota, yet that was the aim promise/lie.
Maude_Lynne
Thinking has been downgraded.