<DIV>There's no question that the majority's disbelief in evolution is troubling and embarassing and should be combatted, but I don't think it's the barrier to otherwise (economically) progressive politics that it's been characterized as.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here in Wisconsin the progressive Democratic Senator, Russ Feingold, polled far ahead of John Kerry, garnering the support of 10% of Bush supporters. This is the one Senator to vote against the PATRIOT Act. He also opposed the Iraq war and is a long-time supporter of universal health care, if not a single payer plan. Oh yeah, and he opposed the bigotry of the anti-gay marriage amendment.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Kerry was an empty suit who didn't stand firmly for anything, and he got 48% of the vote! I think it's too early to shut the lid on the potential for progressive nation-wide successes, despite the disappointment of the most recent presidential election. Doug Henwood <dhenwood@panix.com> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Jordan Hayes wrote: >Don't you mean that you're tired of living in a country where, _of the >people who vote regularly_, more people believe in angels than >evolution? I'm afraid it's just as I said. Some snippets from Gallup (which has a funny definition of evolution in the first excerpt): >Most recently, in Gallup's February 19-21 poll, 45% of respondents >chose "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at >one time within the last 10,000 years or so," the statement that >most closely describes biblical creationism. A slightly larger >percentage, almost half, chose one of the two evolution-oriented >statements: 37% selected "Human beings have developed over millions >of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this >process" and 12% chose "Human beings have developed over millions of >years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this >process." > >The public has not notably changed its opinion on this question >since Gallup started asking it in 1982. >Although belief in God seems to have remained relatively stable over >the last several decades, Gallup research indicates that belief in >some other supernatural beings may be on the rise. In 1994, 72% of >Americans said they believed in angels, and that percentage has >increased to 78% today. Belief in the devil has increased from 55% >in 1990 to 70% in 2004. >Since 1997, belief in heaven has ranged between 72% and 83%. >According to Gallup's most recent May 2004 Values and Beliefs poll*, >81% of Americans currently say they believe in heaven, 10% are >unsure, and 8% do not believe. As expected, regular churchgoers are >more likely than others to say they believe: Virtually all (98%) of >those who attend church weekly do so versus 89% who attend "nearly >weekly" and 64% of those who say they attend church seldom or never. > >Belief in heaven is relatively high across all other demographic >groups. The relatively high religiosity of Republicans is reflected >here: 90% say they believe in heaven, compared with 82% of Democrats >and 72% of political independents. Nonwhites are somewhat more >likely than whites to believe in heaven (89% compared with 80%). >Regionally, Southerners are somewhat more likely to believe in >heaven (90%) than those in other regions are. Those with a high >school education or less are more likely to believe than those with >at least some college education. >More recently, Gallup asked Americans if the devil is something they >believe in, something they're not sure about, or something they >don't believe in. Sixty-eight percent said in a May 2001* poll that >they believe in the devil, 20% said they don't, and 12% said they >aren't sure. Majorities of Americans of every political inclination, >region, educational level, and age group said they believe in the >devil. There's nothing comparable anywhere else in the first world. Doug ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk </BLOCKQUOTE> <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. <a href="http://www.yahoo.com"> www.yahoo.com</a