(UPDATE: 2012-09-17 10:15 AM)
The problem is that since conservative policies are generally detrimental to the middle class and since the middle class is the biggest voting block it is essential that the conservative elite ensure that its base is maintained as low information citizens or as misinformed citizens. Only then would they vote for those who would implement conservative policies as would Mitt Romney and the Republican Leadership based on their own codified policies (Two Visions For America).
It is for that reason that Conservative leaders are not high on real education. In fact the Texas Republican platform specifically opposes teaching critical thinking skills.
The Texas Republican platform
It opposes multicultural education and “critical thinking”: “We believe the current teaching of a multicultural curriculum is divisive,” the platform says, adding that it supports teaching “common American identity and loyalty instead of political correctness that nurtures alienation among racial and ethnic groups.” In Arizona, where Republicans banned multicultural programs, students in those programs actually out-performed their peers. Texas Republicans also believe “controversial theories” such evolution and climate change — which aren’t controversial at all — “should be taught as challengeable scientific theories subject to change as new data is produced.” There’s more: the GOP also opposes the teaching of “critical thinking skills” because they “focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”
As I was writing this post I got a call from my friend George Batten. He told me to remember it is not only about smarts. It is also about being reasonable and you need them both. He implied the Right Wing attack both with the expectation that one or both would be successful in making the followers less reasonable or ensuring they are misinformed (willfully less smart).
Irrespective of one’s morality or belief or disbelief in a woman’s choice, would thinking conservative women really have come up with the idea of vaginal probes to attain a goal? Would thinking conservative women really vote against a law that did not allow companies to pay women less than their male counterpart doing the same work? Would thoughtful conservatives vote for someone who intends to put the country fiscally at risk by cutting taxes & raising defense spending even though every reputable economist said the math was impossible. Would thinking conservatives vote to reduce the safety net when the provable transfer of wealth that has occurred over the last 30 years have left the middle class that much more in need not by their own doing but by bad supply side policies?
That one statement Rick Santorum made is much more important than how funny it sounds. It reflects the thinking of the conservative elite and the message they must have their base comfortable with in order to gain their support. Their intent is to make stupid vogue.
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