How does one explain the Republican Party on an evolutionary basis? If the God of the Deists existed, that is, if the Argument of Intelligent Design were in fact true, The Creator would have an awful lot of explaining to do.
1.
As Darwin elaborated in 1859, life evolves by natural selection, favoring the survival of the fittest. Life is thought to have begun not too long--in cosmic terms-- after Earth came into being, about 4.5 billion years ago. For several billion years, the only life forms on Earth were unicellular organisms, bacteria and viruses. (The first bacteria arose about 3.5 million years ago.) Multicellular organisms began their long trek to the fauna and flora of today during the Cambrian Period, 500 million years ago.
Viruses and bacteria, being unconscious, follow the laws of evolution as strictly as stones follow the law of gravity when they fall to Earth. Viruses and bacteria have no need of the Biblical injunction of choosing life; they have no choice but to do so. Since these simple organisms--especially viruses--replicate so rapidly, chance genetic variations occur with greater frequency. If a variation increases the organism's chances of survival, it soon becomes dominant. This is what has happened with the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus, the cause of the current phase of the pandemic. This variant has made the critter fitter.
That the universe originated in a chance, quantum event is widely theorized today. In the pre-modern era, a chance creation of the universe seemed illogical; many scientifically unsophisticated persons today would agree.
In the classical example of the 'watchmaker' metaphor, William Paley asserted in 1802 that, just as a found watch implies a watchmaker, so do complex organisms imply a creator. Most educated religious and scientific leaders agreed with this position for generations and generations. Since 1859, however, evolutionary Darwinism is 'the only game in town,' just as for the past century quantum theory is widely accepted as the 'creator' of the universe in which every town and city are located.
2.
If the American subset of Covid-19 viruses somehow became conscious, whom do you think they would vote for? Republicans, of course. For that political variant bears a good deal of responsibility in abetting the survival of the Delta variant.
How can it be that a virus mindlessly and flawlessly follows the law of survival, when some politicians seemingly do the opposite? If a politician is decent, whether conservative or liberal, he or she dedicates a goodly proportion of effort to the public good. If the desire to serve is not a main reason for entering politics, something is seriously wrong. Every politician must make compromises, such as conflicts of conscience, which arise, say, from the necessity of fund-raising. As those compromises impinge on one's ability to serve the public good, politicians become less and less good themselves. Yes, politics entails compromising, but not compromising too much.
The governors of Texas and Florida, to mention two notorious examples, are responsible for causing the deaths and sicknesses of constituents they are supposed to serve. How can one advocate that whether to take a life-saving vaccine is a personal choice? Don't all those irrational, angry people who refuse vaccines because they don't want to be told what to do, buckle up as required by law before driving a car? Freedom indeed. What about the freedom of those, even those who have been vaccinated, not to be infected by loopy anti-vaxxers? Is requiring one to wear a mask really on the same level as requiring one to wear a suit of armor during a heat wave? Is wearing a mask too much to ask to save the lives of both oneself and one's neighbor?
Are the governors of Florida and Texas and their ilk stupider than viruses, which are congenitally unable to act in any way that imperils their survival? I don't think so.
Richard Dawkins in his seminal book, The Selfish Gene, demonstrated that animals' genetic endowment determines that genes act selfishly, that is, they act in accord with their own survival rather than group survival. In addition, humans with strong convictions follow cultural dictates in contrast, say, to the natural commandment to be fruitful and multiply. The celibacy requirement for Catholic priests is a good example.
We have therefore two ways of explaining the Abbott/DeSantis paradox. One is that they are genetically interested in their own survival, and not in the survival of those they are supposed to serve. But it's worse than that. Blaming genetics only goes so far; they are human beings and should know better.
Therefore, they are in a very real sense worse than viruses. In other words, they are bad examples of humanity.
I contend that they, and other Republicans, know that they are harming fellow human beings; the primary interest of the former is political survival, plain and simple. They are convinced that pleasing their base is more important than doing the right thing. They want to survive politically at all costs--and the costs are high. DeSantis, for instance, is not afraid to fine government officials for enjoining the use of masks; he knows that although this might make him unpopular among some Floridians, it keeps his approval rating in the state higher than Biden's. Love yourself above your neighbor is their cynical, egotistical, ungodly commandment.
Viruses are amoral, they have no sense of self. DeSantis and Abbott are immoral: they know what's right but deliberately choose, for selfish reasons, to do wrong. One kills unconsciously; the other consciously.
The astounding thing is the ignorance of such a large swath of the American people. Forgive them, Lord, (not the Abbotts and DeSantises), for they know not what they do. To which viruses would reply, if they could: yeah, right.
We get the politicians we deserve; yes, indeed, we're in serious trouble.
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