Excellent column by Timothy Egan in the New York Times:
The tutorial in 8th grade biology that Republicans got after one of their members of Congress went public with something from the wackosphere was instructive, and not just because it offered female anatomy lessons to those who get their science from the Bible.
Take a look around key committees of the House and you’ll find a governing body stocked with crackpots whose views on major issues are as removed from reality as Missouri’s Representative Todd Akin’s take on the sperm-killing powers of a woman who’s been raped.
On matters of basic science and peer-reviewed knowledge, from evolution to climate change to elementary fiscal math, many Republicans in power cling to a level of ignorance that would get their ears boxed even in a medieval classroom. Congress incubates and insulates these knuckle-draggers.
It’s one thing for the fundies to use their backward views to harm themselves, and quite another for them to drag down everyone else. When the fundie lobby gets troglodytes elected we all pay the price. There is simply no way America can move forward and solve its problems, that often require scientific knowledge and critical thinking, when we have people with medieval mindsets making key decisions for our nation’s future.
America has to make a choice. Either it can keep electing Tea Party types and social conservatives — who will lead America into moral, social, educational, and economic decline. Or, we can bring back adults to Washington and state houses who don’t rule through superstition and magical thinking.
Anyone who believes we can continue the destructive path we are on is kidding themselves. When dumb people are elected — you don’t get smart solutions.
