Republicans play with fire
The Rocky Mountain News reports that Republican State Senator Greg Brophy may introduce a 2006 bill allowing Colorado schools to teach intelligent design. This is bad news not only for science students, but also for Republicans and the economy.
Big spending and giant deficits have already driven many pro-business Republicans to the Democratic party. Religious fanaticism will only reinforce the notion that the modern GOP is a single-issue waste of space whose only agenda is to enforce religious homogeny.
When a Kansas school board passed a similar initiative on Election Day 2005, Kansas became the object of national ridicule. Colorado has an economy that relies on the tech sector. We can't afford the notion that our homegrown students are learning mysticism in science class.
In Dover, Pennsylvania, an activist school board pulled the same stunt. They were promptly thrown out by the populace and their ill-conceived laws were overturned in court. If I were Greg Brophy, I'd be fearing for my job right now. And if I were a Republican who realized that he'd lost the debates on Iraq, the budget, education, healthcare and the environment, I'd look for a different issue to hang my hat on. Immigration, anyone?
UPDATE: The Independence Institute is apparently thumbing their nose at the religious wing of their party with What Would Reagan Do bracelets. Ironically the bracelets are red, the color of communism and the USSR. I'm sure Ronnie would be thrilled.
Big spending and giant deficits have already driven many pro-business Republicans to the Democratic party. Religious fanaticism will only reinforce the notion that the modern GOP is a single-issue waste of space whose only agenda is to enforce religious homogeny.
When a Kansas school board passed a similar initiative on Election Day 2005, Kansas became the object of national ridicule. Colorado has an economy that relies on the tech sector. We can't afford the notion that our homegrown students are learning mysticism in science class.
In Dover, Pennsylvania, an activist school board pulled the same stunt. They were promptly thrown out by the populace and their ill-conceived laws were overturned in court. If I were Greg Brophy, I'd be fearing for my job right now. And if I were a Republican who realized that he'd lost the debates on Iraq, the budget, education, healthcare and the environment, I'd look for a different issue to hang my hat on. Immigration, anyone?
UPDATE: The Independence Institute is apparently thumbing their nose at the religious wing of their party with What Would Reagan Do bracelets. Ironically the bracelets are red, the color of communism and the USSR. I'm sure Ronnie would be thrilled.
1 Comments:
Brophy isn't alone in promoting ID in Colorado. Earlier, Rep. Stafford (R-Aurora) threatened to introduce a similar pro-ID measure to the General Assembly as well. Further, the reaction of the very powerful evangelical - and Colorado-based - Focus On The Family & Colorado Southern Baptists to the Pennsylvania ruling was less than encouraging. Finally, Colorado is also home to a number of professional ID-advocates.
Coupling the wealth & resources of major evangelical organizations with a few die-hard Christian Republicans in the General Assembly and a few professional ID advocates leads us to believe that they are planning a major ID offensive here.
We are trying to "preempt" this by organizing "Maintain Educational Standards In Colorado (MESIC) http://mesic1.blogspot.com We hope that our initiative, coupled with already organized though largely dormant groups like Colorado Citizens for Science will be able to "head them off at the pass" and make the issue to controversial to progress very far here in Colorado.
Anyway, take a look at what we are doing at http://mesic1.blogspot.com and if you agree, please sign the petition.
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