Climate denial and Evolution denial go hand in hand, and the laws being crafted to destroy the teaching of biology in states across the country, now routinely contain language designed to destroy the teaching of atmospheric science, and the physics and chemistry essential to understanding it. Ok, the discussion above is a little sophomoric by the standards of this forum, but the sentiments expressed might fit in at a lot of polite cocktail party conversations.
That’s why there is merit in continuing the discussion of a major political party sinking into a demon haunted world.
..the Chamber of Commerce disclosed that it will be teaming up with Republican establishment leaders to spend $50 million in an effort to stem the tide of “fools” who have overwhelmed Republican ballots in recent seasons. Check out the language Chamber strategist Scott Reed used in announcing the new campaign:
Our No. 1 focus is to make sure, when it comes to the Senate, that we have no loser candidates… That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.
The blunt choice of words is no accident. All year long, as they’ve crept closer and closer to having to face the reality of a Ted Cruz presidential candidacy in 2016 (with Cruz maybe picking recently-redeemed Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson as his more moderate running mate?), the Beltway’s Republican kingmakers have drifted into ever more alarmist language about the need to change course.
Phil Robertson is a new republican icon, complete with jihadi beard, bible thumping, and good ol’ boy pedophilia. Worth hearing if you haven’t, and you really want a clear picture of where the extreme road leads..
It’s been a transparent effort to reassure industry donors that the party’s future isn’t a bottomless pit of brainless Bachmanns and Cruzes and Santorums, all convinced our Harvard-educated president is a sleeper-cell Arab and that Satan is a literal being intent on conquering Nebraska with U.N. troops.
Earlier this month, for instance, former House Majority Leader and cause-betraying Tea Party progenitor Dick Armey complained that Republicans have been getting whipped at the polls because “we had a lot of candidates quite frankly that did dumb things out there.” And way back in March of last year, Karl Rove himself, speaking on behalf of his Crossroads SuperPAC, told Fox News Sunday that “our goal is to avoid having stupid candidates.” Rove’s group is reportedly also involved in this new $50 million effort.
–
Then, of course, there’s the irony. Men like Karl Rove and Dick Armey practically invented the politics of stupid. In fact, they practically invented the politics of winning millions of votes every time some oversexed cosmopolitan liberal of the Matt Damon/Sean Penn genus used words like “dumb” or “stupid” to describe the preoccupations of Middle America’s God-and-guns culture.
–
Rove’s sole insight as a political thinker was that if you completely dispense with the patriotic aspects of governing – you know, that whole doing-what’s-right-for-the-country thing – then winning elections is no different than selling cheeseburgers or scoring high sitcom ratings. You give people what they want, and it doesn’t matter if it’s bad for them
–
What else explained an apparent atheist like Rove, who derided the evangelicals his president courted as “the nuts“, being so hot to push hardcore religious policy down America’s throat? (As Rove is said to have put it, “Just get me a fucking faith-based thing!”) He obviously didn’t take what he was doing seriously, and would later seem shocked that others did.
Ron Susskind in the New York Times Magazine quotes an unnamed GOP operative, widely assumed to be Rove:
The aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” … “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
Below, GOP strategist Lee Atwater, who worked for both Ronald Reagan and the Elder George Bush, on the GOP “Southern Strategy” or manipulating ignorance and racism to their political advantage.
The connection is clear: if the overwhelming majority of Republicans believe that the earth is not older than 6000 years old, then it becomes impossible to understand evidence from fossils and paleoclimatology. At some point even rational policy makers have to rely on faith (trusting that certain conclusions don’t require a reexamination of the evidence), but if one side just regards any evidence older than 6000 years old to be “suspect” because it conflicts with core religious beliefs, you don’t have any ability to examine or analyze older data. That’s why the attitudinal problem is so intractable.
If as a policymaker I said to you, “convince me that AGW exists and is a problem and requires an immediate solution, but don’t use any evidence older than 6000 years”, the job of persuasion would be very difficult.
from CNN: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/10/survey-u-s-protestant-pastors-reject-evolution-split-on-earths-age/
“America’s Protestant pastors overwhelmingly reject the theory of evolution and are evenly split on whether the earth is 6,000 years old, according to a survey released Monday by the Southern Baptist Convention. When asked if “God used evolution to create people,” 73% of pastors disagreed – 64% said they strongly disagreed – compared to 12% who said they agree. Asked whether the earth is approximately 6,000 years old, 46% agreed, compared to 43% who disagreed.”
Sorry, here’s another quote from another CNN article: ” Forty-six percent of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form at one point within the past 10,000 years, according to a survey released by Gallup on Friday.”
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/01/survey-nearly-half-of-americans-subscribe-to-creationist-view-of-human-origins/
Don’t underestimate Cruz. He might be the most intelligent GOP candidate the past 20 years (his educational resume is a virtual carbon copy of Obama’s). He’s an extremist, and he’s the type of person who always thinks he’s right and will debate endlessly to “prove” it, but he’s not “brainless”:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/19/ted-cruz-at-princeton-creepy-sometimes-well-liked-and-exactly-the-same.html
He’s also a populist, which is likely to be a successful strategy considering the majority of Americans don’t know the difference between their foot and their arse when it comes to politics. Cruz “lost” with the budget battle, but he was setting himself up for 2016 as the brave outsider who stood up against Washington, and I think that tactic will play exceptionally well in a few years. He’s constantly courting the Christian Right, and he’s their top pick:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-leaders-hail-ted-cruz-modern-day-george-washington
Farkwits like Rove helped blend religious belief into turning out votes, and now they think they can control it? That cat’s outta the bag.
Absolutely nothing to do with the thread but a great free 8 week course on Energy, the Environment, and Our Future by Richard B Alley at Penn State. Can I get a green card in time ??
https://www.coursera.org/course/energy
● Lesson 1. Sustainability: Why Energy Matters (and Money)
● Lesson 2. What is Energy—Units and Such; What we use, and how much good it does
● Lesson 3. Oil, Coal and Natural Gas, Drilling and Fracking and Reserves
● Lesson 4. Global Warming I—Physics
● Lesson 5. Global Warming II—History and Impacts
● Lesson 6. Options: Solar, Wind
● Lesson 7. Options: Geothermal, Waves, Tides, Nukes
● Lesson 8. Options: Conservation
● Lesson 9. Options: Geo-Engineering
● Lesson 10. Economics
● Lesson 11. Policy Options
● Lesson 12. Ethical issues
The Washington quote Phil gives is controversial, not sure the actual man ever actually said it.
It’s a widely attributed quote, but it’s refuted here:
http://fakehistory.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/fake-quotations-washington-and-governing-without-god/
And here:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/badquotes.htm
Do you Americans even remotely understand how wacko this Robertson sounds to non-Americans? Like the dark ages are back again. Damn.
The sad part is that this is pretty mainstream stuff in the American Heartland. The 15-16 year old thing is slightly extreme, but in very rural areas it’s not that bad. The Bible stuff is repeated constantly, every day – it’s completely normal to the majority of Bible Belt and Midwest Americans.
meet the new face of American “conservatism”
Why would you think he sounds less wacky to us?
Now I understand what the phrase “lock up your daughters means”
If Hollywood decides to remake Game of Thrones with American actors, perhaps Phil Robertson can play Craster or Lord Walder Frey