That is the opening line of The GOP’s Darwinism, a Washington Post column by Dana Milbank that went up online a few hours ago.
Milbank examines survey data that shows the Republicans becoming more White, more Evangelical Christian, older, and less likely to believe in evolution than even a few years ago.
You can read the data. On evolution, what is important to note is that the overall views of the American people have not changed - the Republican party is self-selecting into an ever narrower segment of the American population, to the point that as Milbank notes
48 percent say that humans have existed in our present form from the beginning, compared with 43 percent who say we have evolved, either with or without help from a supreme being. That’s an 11-percentage-point swing from just four years ago, when 54 percent believed in evolution.
Given that this is Dana Milbank, master of snark, one expects to find some really biting commentary. And one does in the final three paragraphs of the piece, which I will offer you to read in a moment.
Before you do, remember this
- anti-Darwin
- increasingly Evangelical Christian
And now for Milbank's conclusion:
As a matter of political Darwinism, the Republicans’ mutation is not likely to help the GOP’s survival. As the country overall becomes more racially diverse and more secular, Republicans are resolutely white and increasingly devout. If current trends persist, it will be only a couple of decades before they join the dodo and the saber-toothed tiger.
But give Republicans credit for this: They don’t just doubt the theory of evolution; they’re out to prove it wrong. If they believed in the survival of the fittest, they’d be expanding their racial and ideological diversity. Instead, they’re trying to demonstrate that devotion to God can trump the Darwinian rules of politics.
Keep them in your prayers.
Happy New Year.