PerspectivesAre you interested in submitting a Perspective Article? Be sure to read The Science Advisory Board's Editorial Guides for Perspective Articles. Click here. I Can See the Moon from my Porch! by William W. Ward, Ph.D. Being able to see the moon from one’s porch does not qualify the viewer to be a lunar astronaut. In the same sense, simply being able to see Russia from her porch in Alaska does not justify Sarah Palin’s claim to have international political experience. Much has been ballyhooed in the current run-up to the 2008 presidential election about experience and leadership skills. Republican pundits have trashed Obama’s record as weak in these areas while applauding McCain’s experience, leadership, and courage. In obvious desperation, the same pundits have tried, with little or no success, to conjure up evidence of experience and leadership in the record of McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin. More often they, and the candidates themselves, just change the subject. In fact, changing the subject from day to day seems to be the principle McCain/Palin election strategy--stay off message so the public never discovers you have no coherent message to present.  Eight years ago, a highly experienced George W. Bush came into office as our 43rd U.S. president, oozing charisma and sanctimoniously spouting long-held Republican “values.” To Bush-Republicans, big government, taxes, regulation of big businesses, and federal oversight of financial institutions are all great evils while creationism (ignoring science) and procreationism (ignoring the environmental impacts of overpopulation) are among the Godliest of human values. Hiding behind an almost impenetrable veil of Republican evangelical “family values” (regulations be damned) he and Cheney methodically ignored the poor and disenfranchised while heaping monetary benefits into the coffers of already rich oil barons and Wall Street CEOs. Now, finally feeling the sting of bad investments, Wall Street, and perhaps the entire world economy, are in free-fall, largely because the Bush/Cheney-ideologues have pulled the plug on oversight and regulation of financial institutions. Isn’t there something in the evangelical Bible about camels and eyes of needles that preaches against this sort of reverse Robin Hood economics? Now, following in the Bush-Cheney tradition, we have Sarah Palin, another anti-science evangelical whose “Republican, Christian family values” seem to obscure any sparks of logic and reason, if not basic intelligence. There is no place in her “Stepford Wives” world for the understanding of evolution, the application of stem cell research, the appreciation of global warming, the ecological threats of overpopulation, the rights of women to control their own bodies, or the protection of the global environment--she’s a “Drill Baby Drill” ideologue who finds it much easier to believe than to think and reason. She has no clue about, nor has she any interest in, science or reason. She simply relies upon narrow-minded evangelical interpretations of the bible--even to the extent of believing in witchcraft and exorcisms. The scientific community should be railing at the thought of Sarah Palin in any position of power or influence. Her anti-science, anti-intellectual evangelical values scare the crap out of me. Four-letter words notwithstanding, she should be scaring every other thinking person in this country. William W. Ward, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Biochemistry Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA ### << Previous Next >> [ View All Perspectives ] |
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