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They are the true believers who Eric Hoffer warned of in his definitive book from 1951, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Hoffer wrote that one defining characteristic of true believers is the willing suspension of reality because the doctrine they cling to is what defines the ultimate truth.
'All active mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. They do this by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ. "So tenaciously should we cling to the world revealed by the Gospel, that were I to see all the Angels of Heaven coming down to me to tell me something different, not only would I not be tempted to doubt a single syllable, but I would shut my eyes and stop my ears, for they would not deserve to be either seen or heard." To rely on the evidence of the senses and of reason is heresy and treason. It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.'
This Republican Party is the perfect home for George W. Bush, a man who had always disdained intellectual endeavors and critical thinking. Even before the 2000 election, close observers of George W Bush warned that he was inclined to trust his "gut" rather than facts. Molly Ivins, a long time chronicler of Bush, recounted on how Bush refused to believe that evidence showed capital punishment did not deter crime because his "gut" told him the evidence must be wrong.
President Bush is an irrational man ruled by irrational beliefs. He and his administration have spent an inordinate amount of energy promoting "faith-based" government. His administration is actively subverting science and factual studies. For instance, they claim that condoms are not useful for preventing AIDs and so have set back the fight to contain AIDs in the developing world. They also have encouraged and fostered irrational thinking in the American people, shown by their egregious promotion of conspiracy theories such as those with which Bush justified his Iraq war because Saddam and Iraq did not have anything to do with 9/11.
So why should we care whether people are rational or not?
There are two problems. One is, when we do not accurately understand the problems; we cannot devise solutions that address those problems. Second, when we encourage people to be irrational, we denigrate critical thinking and that can lead to even worse outcomes. Thus when the Bush administration persists in faulty thinking such as using torture is justified even when all evidence says this is false and counterproductive to our national security, they endanger Americans. Irrationality leads to poor decisions, which cause further disasters, and which in turn leads to new reasons to find scapegoats to blame. Today, it is the terrorists. Tomorrow it could be all liberals or any of those who persist in questioning Bush's decisions.
Bush's decisions are made from whatever he wants to believe -- so we went to war for dubious reasons when even his father knew it would be a terrible mistake. Yet, according to numerous reports, Bush believed he had been given a mission from God to smite terrorists, which in his mind included taking out Saddam. And he believed his closest advisors who told him that it would easy. Therefore we went in with too few troops and no plan for the aftermath because he and his advisors believed that conquering Iraq would need nothing more than a few thousand troops to subdue the entire country. And since then at each juncture in Iraq, Bush's decisions have made the situation worse until now the country is close to civil war, something that did not have to happen.
In my opinion, the greatest threat to our country today is the irrational thinking that permeates the Party running this country. As Jim Bechtel, the founder of R.E.A.S.O.N - a group promoting rational thinking in Nebraska, noted: "If you're willing to believe things regardless of evidence, then it doesn't matter what you believe, it just matters who gets to you first." Because Bush is an irrational man, he is susceptible to being conned by anyone who gets his ear and engages his gut.
Furthermore, because Bush does not believe in evidence or in facts, it is impossible for him to make decisions rationally. This means we will not and cannot truly address any of the problems we face as a nation: not the deficit, not global warming, not the encroaching oil crisis, and not the war. I am left with a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach as I realize we have someone so disconnected from reality in charge -- because unless we have some amazing luck on our side, our situation is guaranteed to get worse.
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