The Republican Presidential Candidates debated a few nights ago. They all invoked the name of Reagan, referring to the “Reagan Principle” or to his vision of government. In a time when the issue of climate change is so critical, I would warn these candidates to remember that it was Reagan who removed the solar panels from the White House lawn. That’s a strong message, when just a few years earlier Carter had erected them in response to the OPEC gas crisis. I would also warn these candidates (except Brownback, who could care less) that it was Reagan who sent a strong anti-science message to Americans, signaling that it was okay to mix religion into issues of science in public education.
Said Reagan of evolution,
[It is a] theory only, and it has in recent years been challenged in the world of
science and is not yet believed in the scientific community to be as
infallible as it once was believed. But if it was going to be taught in
the schools, then I think that also the biblical theory of creation,
which is not a theory but the biblical story of creation, should also
be taught (Science, 1980, p. 1214).
When you invoke his quest for small government, his hand in the final push against the Soviet Union, don’t forget that he sent a strong signal of support for the fossil fuel industry, and a strong message of weakening science education.
