america: the prequel

The Day the Enlightenment Went Out,” by Gary Wills (NY Times):

This [election] might be called Bryan’s revenge for the Scopes trial of 1925, in which William Jennings Bryan’s fundamentalist assault on the concept of evolution was discredited. Disillusionment with that decision led many evangelicals to withdraw from direct engagement in politics. But they came roaring back into the arena out of anger at other court decisions – on prayer in school, abortion, protection of the flag and, now, gay marriage.

The Values-Vote Myth,” by David Brooks (NY Times):

The fact is that if you think we are safer now, you probably voted for Bush. If you think we are less safe, you probably voted for Kerry. That’s policy, not fundamentalism. The upsurge in voters was an upsurge of people with conservative policy views, whether they are religious or not.

An interesting discussion is taking place on C18-L. Note that the second thread below leads to a blog: Timothy Burke’s Easily Distracted. Check out these threads:

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2 thoughts on “america: the prequel

  1. “Garry Wills.” Not “Gary Willis.” Apology for orthographic trolling, but people keep going to the NYT site at my recommendation and searching for the wrong name, or trying to find out what else he’s written and coming up empty.

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