# Republicans: A War On Science and how you are letting them win **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 5, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856 "2012-10-05T22:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/21 "2012-10-06T14:40:04Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I seem to recall there being two years or so not long ago when Democrats controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. What was done about it? Fuck all. > > The Republicans will keep slashing all they can. The Democrats won’t do anything about it other than roll over and let it happen. As always, the election is down to a choice between incompetent and evil. I’m sick of it. First of all, there were only [brief periods](http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/did-the-democrats-ever-really-have-60-votes-in-the-senate-and-for-how-long/) where the Senate had “fillibuster proof majorities” and even then they were scuppered by Blue Dogs. Secondly, you can review Project Vote Smart and search according to specific issues, such as funding for medical and science research. For instance, the votes on [HR 5116](http://votesmart.org/bill/votes/30389#.UHBCk66wVGx) and [HR 5325](http://votesmart.org/bill/votes/30389#.UHBCk66wVGx) are instructive. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/22 "2012-10-06T15:27:41Z")
What we need is a national petition to get Broun off the science committee (and then out of office). This man does not appear to know the first thing about the distinction between evidence and opinion and is hijacking an official government committee with the exact opposite of its purpose. This man shames our nation with his destructive ignorance. I agree with the OP- every Republican on this board who votes for these ignorants is complicit in the enforcement of ignorance. I understand that is the only way the GOP can continue to win votes, but c’mon, where are your _values_, guys? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/23 "2012-10-06T15:40:24Z")
their goal is to rebuild the nation from its ashes. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/24 "2012-10-06T15:41:45Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > What does a fruit fly with Down syndrome look like ? Dunno, but it can’t dance worth shit. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/25 "2012-10-06T15:48:32Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > I’ve posted before that I think that people who claim to be religious should NOT have the right to vote, let alone hold any elected office. Oh, I skipped over this one because others had addressed it, but now is not the time to alienate powerful allies. I must preface my comments - I am not committed to knowledge at the expense of all other pursuits. For instance, in an anti-Utilitarian thought experiment conceived of by Dawkins, a populace kept ignorant in a soporific stupor would be unconscionable to them. I hold the opposite view: a population growing increasingly more aware of their surroundings and yet more and more despondent would be the height of depravity. That said, I am an optimist. I believe increasing knowledge will always lead to the long term benefit of humanity, in any sphere. Kenneth Miller, for instance, delivers a rousing condemnation of Intelligent Design and explains why it is synonymous with creationism [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRsWAjvQSg) and he’s a committed Catholic. Bernie Sanders gives an impassioned plea for acknowledgement of the evidence for global warming [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak9yECImrVc) and he’s Jewish. On this board, from the top of my head, we have Chronos, Bricker and Measure for Measure who are religious (as far as I am aware) and firmly respect rigorous science. Now for some extremely tangential points. My parents are both relatively religious, attending mass weekly. My father used to volunteer for the soup kitchen and as an Extraordinary Minister. Both have Graduate Diplomas in Law. My father reads Chomsky and is the deputy manager of his union. Neither of them would countenance voting for a Conservative (my father has voted for pro-life Labour and our MP is pro-life and Labour) and both - to the best of my knowledge - believe in evolution. As a further aside, I used to be subbed to the Richard Dawkins channel, but Dawkins started promoting a US politician named Sean Faircloth. A reasonable guy who was the first politician to my knowledge to raise the issue of soft drink machines in schools. However, I unsubbed when Faircloth started shilling Pepsi for no apparent reason, completely contradictory to his previous actions. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/26 "2012-10-06T15:53:29Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > their goal is to rebuild the nation from its ashes. I don’t doubt it. And if they had a more live-and-let-live attitude toward science, they might be able to figure out that ashes make an exceptionally poor building material. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/27 "2012-10-06T15:55:43Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > their goal is to rebuild the nation from its ashes. After they started the fire. I would ask the Congressidiot what the heck BBT, Evolution and embryology have to do with whether or not people need spiritual guidance? Sure, BBT and geology and even a back-of-the-envelope calculation of simple heat transfer all show the Earth is older than the sum of Biblical genealogies, but so what? Plenty of people who are not YECs believe in God, and many of them are Christians. Every single thing in his statement is wrong. Who’s running against him? ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/28 "2012-10-06T16:06:32Z")
The only quibble — and it’s a minor one — that I have with the OP is that its focus is too narrow. As has been said elsewhere, and by far better posters that yours truly, the war isn’t just on science, but on [critical thinking](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html)\*. Two reasons for the animosity come to mind. For one thing, critical thinking might upset the upper class’s comfortable applecart (as George Orwell points out [via Emmanuel Goldstein] an educated proletariat may very well find their masters unnecessary). For another, to some it might lead people to question “That Old Time Religion,” thereby delivering them (and the country) into the jaws of Satan. I’m sure there are many other reasons, but in the end none of them are persuasive to me. One of the ironies of my life is that the seeds of my departure from the RCC were planted at a Jesuit high school, the Jesuits valuing and encouraging critical thought. That didn’t mean they fostered theological rebellion, but neither did they promote the idea that the best way to serve God was robotic obedience. But apparently in the GOP of today, robotic obedience and slavish adherence to the orthodox worldview are _sine qua non_. \*A couple of caveats about the link: first, it’s specific to Texas, while the animosity toward critical thinking is by no means restricted to that state; and second, the animosity is not restricted to Republicans — nor does every Republican embrace it — though it’s found a much firmer foothold there than among Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/29 "2012-10-06T16:19:24Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > their goal is to rebuild the nation from its ashes. > [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > After they started the fire. and defunded the fire department. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/30 "2012-10-06T16:28:52Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > their goal is to rebuild the nation from its ashes. > [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > After they started the fire. > [@johnpost](#): > > and defunded the fire department. Well, DUH! How else are they supposed to get ashes to rebuild the nation from? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/31 "2012-10-06T16:49:12Z")
Scrambled eggs. Once they dry, they are immutable and invulnerable to heat, abrasion, water, and prayer. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/32 "2012-10-06T17:34:47Z")
I appreciate the kind words about my post. I do have to wonder: Where are the Republicans to defend their votes for ignorance while posting - sometimes prolifically - on a board with a mission to eradicate ignorance? Where is OMG - A Black Conservative? Where is Bricker? Where is Shodan and his fucking regards? ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/33 "2012-10-06T18:19:37Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > What does a fruit fly with Down syndrome look like ? Sarah Palin. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/34 "2012-10-06T18:38:05Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > Sarah Palin. Stolen! Mine, I got here first, the rest of you back off! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/35 "2012-10-06T18:49:30Z")
Chiming in that I agree with the general premise of the OP, though I don’t think I’d go so far as blaming every Republican for this kind of ignorance. I do think it’s a good question, and I’d be interested in seeing how the conservatives on this board defend it. That said, I really hope there’s no debate here. The Republican comments you posted include some scary fucking shit. We’ve gotten to this point that is beyond disagreement, a place where we have public officials who honest-to-fucking-god live in an alternate version of reality where feelings are facts. That is fucking horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/36 "2012-10-06T19:03:19Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > maybe a better solution is to not allow the legislative body to micromanage the government. > > the executive branch is tasked with administering the government. hopefully they find people competent in their field to work in particular agencies. these agencies then have dozens and hundreds of people administering programs; that is lots of heads with many ideas which eventually becomes focused on a goal. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I don’t necessarily agree with that. There have been religious men and women in leading positions in our government for a long, long time, and to my knowledge, most of them don’t or didn’t generally let their religious beliefs influence their judgement on policy. Many of them, especially amongst the founders, recognized the potential problem with introducing God into legislation and shied away from it, neatly separating their personal beliefs with what was best for our nation. Yeah, I see your points here, but the fact that they keep hammering on ignorance is best drives me nuts. I don’t vote based on what candidates personal beliefs are. I like a strong government, good defense, good tax system, strong infrastructure, equal rights, etc. If you’re a candidate, tell me HOW and WHY you can help provide this in my country. Where does religion come into this? Never. Science is what sent us to the moon, builds a better plane, bomb, bridge and maybe a wind and solar powered infrastructure, whatever. They’re proselytization mixing with education and spreading rumors only tells me that even their philosophies on how we should think and live our lives tells me they know nothing about meeting the qualification I listed above. I wouldn’t even blink if the next new party that shows up would be the Theocratic Party. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/37 "2012-10-06T19:08:02Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > You need to say studying fruit flies will lead to better weapons. Or stockpiling yellowcake. We must do something about these fruit fly terrorist cells. They’re ubiquitous. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/38 "2012-10-06T23:10:20Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Wasn’t it Kentucky or Kansas whose students were failing science on standardized tests who eliminated the evolution questions so the kids could pass?? All for the “holy contributions” the pols acquire for their campaign fund. Somewhere on this board someone mentioned that Tennessee had stopped teaching evolution in schools and that they wanted the national SAT and ACT tests revised to eliminate evolution so the Tennessee kids wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. I believe the poster said ETS told Tennessee to pound sand. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/39 "2012-10-06T23:21:24Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Yeah, I see your points here, but the fact that they keep hammering on ignorance is best drives me nuts. > > I don’t vote based on what candidates personal beliefs are. I like a strong government, good defense, good tax system, strong infrastructure, equal rights, etc. If you’re a candidate, tell me HOW and WHY you can help provide this in my country. Where does religion come into this? Never. > > Science is what sent us to the moon, builds a better plane, bomb, bridge and maybe a wind and solar powered infrastructure, whatever. They’re proselytization mixing with education and spreading rumors only tells me that even their philosophies on how we should think and live our lives tells me they know nothing about meeting the qualification I listed above. I wouldn’t even blink if the next new party that shows up would be the Theocratic Party. I agree. I don’t necessarily consider a candidate’s personal beliefs either, unless they throw them out there in such a way that its obvious that their votes on legislation will be colored by religious bullshit thinking. This Georgia Republican’s comments in the OP are way beyond the pale though, so much so that its unconscionable to vote for such a person. The Republican Party has transmogrified from a party I could get behind into something I can no longer identify with at all. And to think this used to be the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Eisenhower. What a mess they’ve turned into. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856/40 "2012-10-06T23:29:56Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > As always, the election is down to a choice between incompetent and evil. I’m sick of it. Nobody is willing to admit it, but given these two choices, one is _clearly_ superior. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-a-war-on-science-and-how-you-are-letting-them-win/636856.md?page=3)