Personally, I feel that the more people who learn to code, the better position we as members of society are placed in. While I certainly have no need for my local member of parliament to play perl golf in his/her spare time - I certainly do have a need, or at the very least, a want; for them to have some form of understanding about softare development. Informed people make informed decisions, and a higher number of people who are informed in matters that relate to things like software patents, the easier it is to garner a sympathetic ear when we say "Look - this isn't right, they shouldn't be able to do that."
I recall reading an article about the term 'programmer' and how it should be avoided when applying for jobs, rather, something like 'problem fixer' (I don't recall the actual example given, sorry) should be used, due to the negative, hermetic/wizardly air that supposedly hangs around those who program. I'm not a programmer, so I can't say if it is objectively true; but if it is, it seems logical making coding a more common skill would certainly remove some of the supposed semantics.