What's up with Kansas?
From the NY Times - "The State Board of education has approved the latest draft of science standards that include greater criticism of evolution." While I would like to say this shocks me, it does not. The religious right continues to be more and more aggressive since their president was reelected last November. Scary.
However, I wonder if the good conservative folk of Kansas ever think about their state's future. What type of education are the kids of Kansas getting - one that turns it back on scientific principles and moves toward the teaching of "intelligent design" - the new more friendly way of saying "creationism?" Ultimately, these states need to realize they are shooting themselves in the economic foot. Educated people will leave the state, companies will choose to avoid such a backward state, tax revenues will decline, and schools will only decline further.
It is an interesting situation and, I believe, a bit of a precarious one for the Republican Party. Here we have a party that has managed to hold a group of fiscal conservatives together with the religious right. What happens when their goals do not mesh? Think about stem cell research for a moment. Mr. Bush has made his position on this pretty darn clear - nothing outside of the existing stem cell lines. However, think about the huge economic opportunity that the US stands to miss here. South Korea is already zooming ahead of us in regard to research here. At a state level, look at the investment that is pouring into the state of California as a result of its more liberal approach to stem cell research versus the amount of investment going into Kansas.
Ultimately, the business minded folk of the Republican party will have to stand up to the religious right and say "stop - you are inhibiting economic growth." Will there be a schism of the party? We can only hope so.
However, I wonder if the good conservative folk of Kansas ever think about their state's future. What type of education are the kids of Kansas getting - one that turns it back on scientific principles and moves toward the teaching of "intelligent design" - the new more friendly way of saying "creationism?" Ultimately, these states need to realize they are shooting themselves in the economic foot. Educated people will leave the state, companies will choose to avoid such a backward state, tax revenues will decline, and schools will only decline further.
It is an interesting situation and, I believe, a bit of a precarious one for the Republican Party. Here we have a party that has managed to hold a group of fiscal conservatives together with the religious right. What happens when their goals do not mesh? Think about stem cell research for a moment. Mr. Bush has made his position on this pretty darn clear - nothing outside of the existing stem cell lines. However, think about the huge economic opportunity that the US stands to miss here. South Korea is already zooming ahead of us in regard to research here. At a state level, look at the investment that is pouring into the state of California as a result of its more liberal approach to stem cell research versus the amount of investment going into Kansas.
Ultimately, the business minded folk of the Republican party will have to stand up to the religious right and say "stop - you are inhibiting economic growth." Will there be a schism of the party? We can only hope so.
posted by The Random Gay Guy at 10:20 AM
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