Saying everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot, that just hasn't found enlightenment is not a good argument. A sizable portion of people will have the opposite revelation.
I for one think people still thinking socialism is a good thing, haven't read enough history books about the 20th century.
Any. Even if you're doing a blue collar job, understanding the fundamentals (or at least the specifics about a particular subfield) makes you "the guy" and adds some job security. As a programmer I often got ahead just because I'd read all of the C standard library, the Windows API docs, etc.