During the recent Republican Presidential debate, Governor Rick Perry, the current favorite to secure his party’s nomination, was asked about his views on climate change. Perry proceeded to stumble hopelessly through an incoherent answer, attempting to compare his denial of the existence of climate change to Galileo, who Perry claimed, “got outvoted for a spell.” In other words, Perry believes that his complete ignorance of global warming will one day be proven correct just like Galileo’s theory of the Earth revolving around the sun.

The only problem is that according to the 98% of climate researchers who agree with the premise that humans are causing climate change, Perry is flatly wrong. This is also the same man who responded to Texas’s record summer draught by asking his people to pray for more rainfall. Like the previous governor of Texas, George W. Bush, Rick Perry’s worldview is shaped by his evangelical Christian faith.

Men like this cannot be trusted to make rational decisions. It is supremely ironic that Perry rejects scientific data while embracing religion, something that can never be proven scientifically true. The effects of religion controlling our national policy are all too real and recent. President Bush has openly admitted to believing that he personally took advice from God while in office.

The modern conservative loves to demonize the government and advocates for as limited a role for the government as possible. During a recent speech, Perry asked, “Do you believe in the primacy of unrestrained federal government? Or do you worship the God of the universe, placing our trust in him?”

There is nothing wrong with having a religious faith, but putting all faith in the hands of religion is ludicrous. For instance, Perry called the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico an “act of God.” Anyone concerned with actual facts will discover that the oil spill was actually due to a lack of regulation and institutional control in the oil industry. The spill should have been prevented by the federal government instituting proper safety regulations. Yet because of the conservatives’ war against the government, these regulations were not required or enforced.

Yet Perry is not an anomaly in the modern Republican Party. Rather, he unfortunately represents the views of the majority of Republicans. In a 2010 Pew survey, only around one in six Republicans said they believed human activity was changing the climate.

Republicans are equally ignorant about evolution. Charles Darwin wrote The Origin of the Species in 1859, over a century and a half ago. Yet word of this strange, new theory of evolution still fails to have reached the majority of Republicans, who believe that God created human beings in their present form.

Perry recently weighed in on evolution as well, calling it “a theory that’s out there,” and advocating the teaching of both creationism and evolutionism. Similarly, fellow candidate Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed that she supports intelligent design, and contended that the science is not adequately settled on evolution. Both of these claims are frankly absurd. The science has been settled on evolution for over a hundred years.

Yet the new reality of the Republican Party is that it is perfectly acceptable to deny accept science in favor of mysticism and religious fervor. This fact should make all USC students pause for a moment and consider the implications of the new era of anti-intellectualism. We are studying at a great university in order to become educated about facts, science, and the truth. If Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann were enrolled in a science class at USC, they would fail spectacularly. How then, are they at all qualified to be President of the United States?

The Republican Party not only rejects intellectualism, it mocks it.

President Obama is constantly derided by the Right for being “too professorial,” or in other words, too smart. John Kerry lost the 2004 election largely based on the perception that he looked “too French.” When asked what the main difference was between President Bush and himself, Rick Perry stated, “He went to Yale. I went to A&M.” Apparently, even President Bush was too intellectual.

Ironically, the one reasonable candidate in the Republican field, Jon Huntsman, is being virtually ignored by Republican voters. Huntsman made waves by posting a tweet stating, “To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming.” This simple statement affirming core scientific facts should not be controversial in the slightest. The fact that it is shows how ignorant and out of touch the Republican Party has become.

If we cannot trust Republicans on issues of science that we know the answers to, then they cannot possibly be trusted on complex issues such as foreign policy and the economy. Someone who denies commonly accepted science simply on religious grounds instantly loses credibility and by no means should be qualified to serve as President of the United States.

 

Reach Staff Columnist Jordan Klein here.