I have spent a lot of time thinking about the stupid things Republicans say. I mean, I spent an entire calendar year running against Nancy Mace. So, for at least those 12 months it was basically my job to consume and respond to the stupidity.
You’re welcome?
My general awareness of the anti-intellectualism that permeates the Republican party predates my tenure as a candidate, though. It started pretty much the moment I started paying attention to politics.
I’m talking about comments like “women have a way of shutting that down” or “why are so many people on ventilators dying, we should look into those” or “horse paste sounds like a good idea” or “let’s inject bleach into our veins” or “the 11th month of pregnancy” or “raw milk is good for you” or “Democrats are manufacturing hurricanes” or “can’t we shoot the hurricane” or “vaccines made this fork stick to my face” or “I’ve read the science on both sides of climate change” or “sunshine cures infertility” or “windmills cause cancer” or “how does solar power work at night” or “I will solve chronic disease in 6 months.”
Ok, those aren’t all direct quotes. But you get the idea.
On the surface, some of this stuff is kind of hilarious. Or at least it would be if this anti-intellectualism wasn’t going to get us all killed. On the heels of Hurricane Helene’s devastating impact in Florida, Upstate South Carolina, Western North Carolina, and Eastern Tennessee, we are bracing for another historic storm, Hurricane Milton. This storm is so bad it is making meteorologists get emotional on air. It could wipe out much of Central Florida.
First, Helene, and now, Milton. This isn’t a fluke. This is the climate crisis. The climate crisis that is already here. The climate crisis that is already here and is human-made. The climate crisis that is already here and human-made and threatens our children’s future. Not to mention the millions of Floridians it threatens…this week. Yeah, the same human-made climate crisis that the Republican party pretends doesn’t exist.
How did we let one of our two political parties adopt such dangerous anti-science policy positions? How can we not all see that they do this because of the money backing fossil fuels and because they think their voters are stupid? How can we not all see that their recklessness is going to get us all killed?
And my most urgent question is HOW does anyone who considers themselves a scientist (yes, this includes you, healthcare providers) not see that failing to engage in politics IS the reason they have gotten away with mainstreaming their anti-intellectual, anti-science platform, pushing our planet to the brink of destruction?
I realize I sound a little hyperbolic today. But, just look at Milton. This is terrifying. And horrifying. And deeply upsetting because it didn’t have to be this way.
This weekend, a physician tweeted something about how doctors who care for patients who are shot shouldn’t participate in the conversation about gun violence prevention. Because caring for these patients doesn’t confer a perspective that would add anything to the policy debate, he claimed. Right. Because there is no way a physician could ever aspire to contribute to the policy conversation at the level we see from esteemed members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace.
We are smarter than most of the people writing our nation’s laws. We should be a part of the conversation.
Scientists can’t stay on the sidelines because politics makes us uncomfortable. It is exactly because too many of us have stayed on the sidelines that anti-science idiots have consumed an entire party. We let this happen.
More of us must get loud. About climate science. About gun violence. About vaccines. About accessible healthcare. About prescription drug prices. About reproductive healthcare. I could go on.
They are walking all over us because they don’t take us seriously, politically. Because we haven’t demanded that they do, by building political power.
We aren’t too busy to engage. We aren’t too intellectual to engage. Staying silent doesn’t make us noble. Speaking up doesn’t degrade our credibility. Speaking up doesn’t reveal our biases. We aren’t biased. We are data-driven.
We must get over ourselves. We must accept that we have an incredibly important role to play in combating the anti-science fever that plagues the Republican party.
It’s getting dangerously close to being too late.
Great read - as always! Thanks Annie Andrews!
A couple of comments: regarding the GOP "thinks their voters are stupid" - I've adapted my opinion to believe now, that most actually are!
I think their unwavering support and belief in crazy notions and those who espouse them is a combination of stupidity and for some - mental illness. It HAS to be, at this point!
And forgive my being hyperbolic, but to borrow a phrase that I've now altered - he could shoot their children in front of them " in the middle of 5th avenue", and their support would not change!
There is no bridge too far.
So - yes! It's up to all of us to be the frequently loud, rational adults in the room!
And sadly - perhaps most importantly- this includes social media platforms like local FB groups, Nextdoor, Threads and X.
Silence = complicity!
Even when it becomes exhausting!