There’s gold in that there Darwinism: How business might finally crush creationism

I’m fascinated over how the two wings of the Republican Party — business-oriented, free market conservatives vs. fundamentalist Christian social conservatives — continue to exist alongside one another.

On some issues, they just don’t get along. Fundamentalists are appalled by pornography and want the Justice Department to shut it down. Free-market conservatives look at the porn industry and see $10 billion a year (at least) being pumped into the U.S. economy.

In these cases, business tends to come out on top. After all, they have the money. Thus, the Justice Department prosecutes a few porn producers every year who are putting out stuff that pushes the envelope and looks the other way at more conventional porn.

Now there’s evidence that the GOP’s two wings may be headed for another big dust-up, this one over an unlikely subject: evolution.

Writer Michael Ennis lays it out in the April issue of Texas Monthly. Ennis points out that bio-technology is rapidly becoming a very lucrative field. Those who understand modern biology will reap the benefits. Those who think the planet is 6,000 years old and that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time will be left behind working at Wal-Mart and watching “The Flintstones.”

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Ennis points out that states like California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Wisconsin and others are itching to enter the “biotech ‘gold rush.’” One thing they’re offering employers is an educated workforce that understands modern science.