08.29.11
GOP Psychopaths as national security threats (continued)
Late last year and again last week DD called the Republican Party a serious threat to national security. All because of its transformation into a cult of psychopaths who deny science.
Anyone who deviates from the orthodoxy of these psychopaths gets thrown down.
Presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman, because he refuses to be be or act like a psychopath, is the best living example. He’s been punished for being a rational person and, subsequently, is virtually non-existent as a contender.
Today, Krugman uses the word “terrify” twice in reference to the GOP and its denial of science.
About time.
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. But what really got peoples’ attention was what he said about climate change: “I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.???
That’s a remarkable statement — or maybe the right adjective is “vile.???
In his book “Fed Up,??? he dismissed climate science as a “contrived phony mess that is falling apart.???
I could point out that Mr. Perry is buying into a truly crazy conspiracy theory, which asserts that thousands of scientists all around the world are on the take, with not one willing to break the code of silence.
Now, we don’t know who will win next year’s presidential election. But the odds are that one of these years the world’s greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is aggressively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge. And, in a time of severe challenges — environmental, economic, and more — that’s a terrifying prospect.
Because of a combination of things — a weak President who either does not understand the nature of his foes or is constitutionally unable to aggressively confront them in a time of great national peril — a psychopath could get elected in 2012.
Many Americans find strongmen appealing. In a time of peril they yearn for someone who looks good, talks big and who will say whatever lies are necessary to encourage their fantasies. And they will want to lash out. The biggest target will be the man in office.
Last week, here:
Today we have GOP Presidential hopefuls — [the psychopaths] — who proudly squawk their disbelief, even antipathy, towards science.
They don’t believe in global warming. They don’t believe in evolution. They don’t believe in science that studies pollution or the trouble with having dirty air and water because they believe regulating water and air so they’re safe are impediments to amassing great wealth.
So they call for the EPA’s destruction.
They don’t even believe in the technology of modern lightbulbs!
You cannot shame or ridicule them on the subject. They’re impervious to facts and reasoned argument …
The serious security threats from this country are not exterior. They’re all internal. The GOP has made itself over into one of them.
You can’t have a modern nation run by such people.
At Pine View Farm I learned there’s now a term for this — it’s called the “psychopath vote.” The Republican Party has swept all of it into its tent and made it a national platform.
Optionally:
