The New Evangelical Left (XIII)

Politicizing Science and Lying in the Process

People, generally, do not like being lied to, especially when that lying is coming from someone in authority over them, and most especially when that person or persons are elected officials. There is an element of trust placed in those in positions of power and authority and one of the best ways to destroy trust and confidence is to lie to those who put you there. And yet, now with regularity and impunity our politicians lie to Americans as a matter of course and think little or nothing of it.

Now don’t get me wrong: I am not trying to paint everyone with the same brush, but with the approval rating of the U.S. Congress barely in double digits, they and we ought to be aware that something is dreadfully wrong—and it is. Jim Wallis’ and Brian McLaren’s solutions are to be apolitical, at least that’s what they’d have you think. Both Wallis and McLaren are far to the left politically and theologically. I still have not quite figured out why they just don’t come out and say it, but I suppose it would mean the loss of some lucrative speaking engagements to college and seminary students across the country, not to mention flying all over the globe to speak on the ills of air pollution. The alarmists, the fanatics, the nay-sayers, and the doomsday prophets all tell us that we’ve only got a little time left before the end. Al Gore is leading the parade; but some of us find it a little odd, if not downright hypocritical, that while these “greenies” are leading the charge against abuses to the spotted owl and smelt fish, he unrepentantly continues to use air conditioning, a microwave, several TVs, DVDs, and flies all over the place—often in private jets—to rid the world of the use of fossil fuels.

Gore and his minions have politicized biotech foods to the poor in developing countries. These suffering nations have plenty of food sitting in storehouses, but it’s genetically engineered food and unfit for consumption for all except Americans who have been eating it for years. Gore is not alone in this undertaking, the Europeans generally follow suit. Therefore the leaders keep the food while the people starve. In addition, Mr. Gore has gored capitalism in favor of socialism, although Gore, Clinton (both of them), Obama, Pelosi, and a host of other Democrats (including Christians) repeatedly deny the claim that what they’re doing is textbook socialism. If it walks like a duck…

In his virulent ideological stance, Gore, the New Evangelical Left, and Democrats in general believe that capitalism is the culprit in all our misery. For most Democrats to point to greed is a case of ultimate hypocrisy. How do you think Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi, and Loretta Sanchez live in multi-million dollar homes? Oh, I know. They got a deal from Freddie Mac.

Indur Goklany has written a very provocative and common sense book entitled The Improving State of the World. It bears the sub-title: “Why We’re Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Live on a Cleaner Planet.” I’m sure you’ve heard about everything Goklany writes about in the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times, haven’t you? No? How odd. Well, apparently this is not all the news that’s fit to print, especially since it cuts across their—and other liberal propaganda rags that pass themselves off as newspapers—environmental beliefs.

In spite of all the doom and gloom, did you know that the average human on planet earth has never been richer, better fed, healthier, or lived longer? It’s true, but to listen to the environmental activists, you’d think we are all on the brink of utter ruin. Now this is not to say that we cannot do better, but it is to say that we cannot and never will do better following the ideas and ideals of Al Gore, Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren, Dan Kimball, the other signatories of the “Evangelical Climate Initiative” documents, and the left in the Democratic Party.

Those on the Left (both in the Democratic Party and now in evangelicalism) are aware of the Club of Rome’s The Limits to Growth, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Neo-Malthusian biologist at Stanford, Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb), and Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, but have never heard of Herman Kahn, Julian Simon, or Bjørn Lomborg. We are what and who we read. The left does not mind peppering us with stats that point out that over the last two centuries, global population increased more than seven times from about 900 million to approximately 6.5 billion. This sounds like the eve of destruction until you calculate in that manufacturing industry increased more than seventy-five fold, and global economic product increased more than sixty times.

In fact, in terms of hunger, infant mortality, life expectancy, economic development, education, political rights and economic freedoms, it has been the wealthier, free market societies that have led and paved the way for these benefits to mankind. Even in countries like China and India, significant—but not perfect—increases have been measured. I know what I’m about to say will not be popular with some, but I’m going to say it anyway. First, available food supplies per capita per day increase as countries become wealthier, not poorer. According to Goklany, “These upward trends with respect to wealth for both 1975 and 2002 are statistically significant at the 99.9 percent confidence level.”[1]

Second, by reinforcing the increase in food supply, wealthier populations could also afford more food for their citizens, irrespective of whether that food was grown domestically or imported.

Third, wealthier countries—all other things being equal—generally have greater access to clean, safe water and sanitation.[2] How does this evolve? The ability is typically advanced with time and the application of advanced technologies.

Fourth, wealthier countries have increased the life expectancy of their people. “For much of human history, average life expectancy used to be 20-30 years. By 1900, it had climbed to about 31 years. By 2003 it had increased to 66.8 worldwide.”[3] That did not come about by wealthier nations reverting to wearing loin cloths and making goat cheese by candlelight.

Fifth, wealthier nations have been more successful in controlling the spread of infectious and parasitic diseases, such as cholera, smallpox, malaria, tuberculosis, and typhoid. Far too many who criticize wealthier nations like the U.S. fail to remember that we were forerunners in all but eradicating those dread diseases. It was the free market that provided the incentives and expertise for these things and not communism or socialism. The next time you want to criticize your country keep in mind that it was America that led the way in clean water supplies, public health measures, water filtration, chlorination, sanitation, pasteurization, and vaccination. In addition, the free market enabled people to direct part of their wealth and human capital to dealing with the “diseases of affluence,” such as heart diseases, obesity, and HIV/AIDS. While the political left and now some in the evangelical left created crises surrounding the supposed ill effect of genetically modified crops, the carcinogenic impact of using cell phones, and the saving of the smelt fish at the expense of California farmers.

In our next installment, we will delve more deeply into Al Gore’s corruption with environmentalism when he was Bill Clinton’s science and technology czar. Apart from that being an incredibly scary thought in itself, we’re going to see how Gore ran with that position and how many high-level appointees to regulatory agencies he put into place. You might not recognize all the names, but what they did was corrupt and unscientific. It was this patent and manifest dishonesty that was the fodder for Earth in the Balance. We will see that Gore’s ideology was not only a money grab, but he intentionally discredited renowned scientists who disagreed with him and threatened, through his henchmen, to ruin their reputations. Why, he could just as well be a politician from Chicago.

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[1] Indur M. Goklany, The Improving State of the World, (Washington, D.C.: The Cato Institute, 2007), p. 24. Emphasis added.

[2] Ibid. 30.

[3] Ibid., 31.