In “Republicans Against Science” (locally “The anti-knowledge party”, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writes: “Jon Huntsman Jr., a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn’t a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that’s too bad, because Mr. Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the G.O.P. — namely, that it is becoming the ‘anti-science party.’ This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us…
“Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, recently made headlines by dismissing evolution as ‘just a theory,’ one that has ‘got some gaps in it’ — an observation that will come as news to the vast majority of biologists…
“Lately, for example, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has gone beyond its long-term preference for the economic ideas of ‘charlatans and cranks’ — as one of former President George W. Bush’s chief economic advisers famously put it — to a general denigration of hard thinking about matters economic. Pay no attention to ‘fancy theories’ that conflict with ‘common sense,’ the Journal tells us. Because why should anyone imagine that you need more than gut feelings to analyze things like financial crises and recessions?…”
WATCHDOG: We all just have so much spare time beyond making a living and caring for our loved ones. So just as the Watchdog is abysmally ignorant about biology and modern technology (among thousands of other things), most of the population neither has the education, the interest, the time or the mindset to be versed in history and to closely follow national affairs.
Huey Long and Joe McCarthy understood this and exploited the population by playing to their ignorance and prejudices. Popular radio personality Rush Limbaugh was once both brilliant and knowledgeable, but he gave up sharing his real views with his audience (to the extent he still has any) and instead feeds them ‘red meat’, spinning the facts (and often fictions) to feed their right-wing appetites.
We teach our children that the USA is a republic, not a democracy; that we elect the best and brightest to represent us. Alas, more recently, we have selected a group of shills who represent the major donors and special interests. Both parties are under their thumbs, although the Republicans are marginally worse off.
Is a third party possible? We doubt it because too much money is involved in elections any more..thanks to the incredible and egregious recent ruling of the U. S. Supreme Court opening the flood gates to corporate donations and anonymity. But we sure would love to see one emerge, if only to force the major parties to return to their original purpose…to faithfully represent the needs of the constituents…by which we mean the voters, not business interests who fund their campaigns and provide financial favors during after their tenure in office.
