Via Krugthulu, Marco Rubio’s isn’t sure how old the planet is:
GQ: How old do you think the Earth is?
Marco Rubio: I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.
At one level, this shows the Republican’s anti-science at its worse. The Christian right doesn’t see science as a path to knowledge, merely as another hermetic cult with its own competing creation myths. This is the key to why this young eartherism is a problem.
On another level, it shows the chutzpah of the Republicans. Of course being scientifically illiterate has an impact on the economy! The economy is more or less science in action, or at least the application of things that haven’t failed yet, which is more or less what science is.
This should be worrying for everyone involved (which sadly is everyone) because we’re already 13 days into the 2016 campaign, and this guy is in the front of the Republican pack.
Filed under: Politics, Society, Krugman, Marco Rubio
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