McCain’s VP Wants Creationism Taught in School

From Wired.com:

In a 2006 gubernatorial debate, the soon-to-be governor of Alaska said of evolution and creation education, “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of education. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.”

Science is not a popularity contest. It is based on ever-accumulating evidence, and the evidence for evolution by natural selection is great enough that to argue against it is akin to arguing against gravity. It is something that we can directly observe in the laboratory. We don’t create vaccines and send people into space by means of popular vote. (Although the public funding for such noble scientific enterprises often has difficulties as a result of popular ignorance.) The value of a scientific theory can only be judged by it’s conformity to reality and it’s predictive power. Creationism, and its latest nom-de-plume of “Intelligent Design”, has not a shred of empirical evidence, fails again and again at making successful predictions, and contributes to a war against reason that we as a species cannot afford to lose; for if we do, we shall surely be sent back into the dark ages.

Lawrence Lerner hit the nail on the head in his comment from the article:

“In the direct sense, vice presidents don’t have much to do with what goes on in classrooms. But a person who’s a creationist doesn’t understand science and technology at all,” said Lerner. “It doesn’t bode well for science, and doesn’t bode well for interaction between science and government.”

When you consider that McCain said of his ticket "You want to make sure you have a candidate... someone who shares your principles, your values, your philosophy and your priorities", his vice presidential pick is just one more reason not to vote for him.

Of course I can hear people right now saying of Joe Biden, "But he's pro-RIAA/MPAA!" True, but there are two reasons why I'm not worried about that. First is Obama himself. In describing what he wanted in a vice president, he said in July:

"I'm going to want somebody with independence, who's willing to tell me where he thinks or she thinks I'm wrong," Obama said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

It seems clear to me that Biden is not going to be dictating policy, à la Dick Cheney. Obama was looking for someone with whom he disagreed because he sees the value in hearing differing points of view, but he knows that at the end of the day it will be Obama who is the president, and the president who makes the decisions.

The second reason is that while I have much admiration for Joe Biden, I recognise that he hasn't had the best voting record when it comes to digital rights and drug laws, and I would like to see him out of the legislature because of those. History shows that no Vice President who came from the Congress has ever returned to the Congress after serving their term as VP. This is, in my opinion, a fantastic way of getting rid of someone with whom you disagree by the age-old method of giving them a promotion. And aside from my differing views with Biden, he is very good at asking tough questions and has a lot of expertise that can definitely help Obama in the White House. It's for exactly those reasons that I've thought since December that Obama should pick Biden as his running mate, and I'm pleased to see that it actually became a reality.