Evidence-Based Analysis. . . or Not

We don’t usually go in for politics on this site, but when we can make a point about a subject on which we feel strongly – in this case, evidence-based analysis – we’re willing to make an exception. The occasion here is the announcement by the four-term Republican Representative from Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District, Michele Bachmann, that she will not seek another term on Capitol Hill.

It is not our purpose here to evaluate Ms. Bachmann’s questionable Congressional record, but rather her unquestionable record of public statements. And in these we see a pattern of total disregard for facts or evidence that, if applied on a large scale to, say, our justice system, would wreak such havoc that all semblance of law and order would be obliterated.

To wit:

Here is a small but representative sample of Representative Bachmann’s pronouncements, compiled and published by our friend at Mother Jones, Tim Murphy. Science, economics, sexuality, public policy – it doesn’t matter. Ms. Bachmann has insight into all of them. In the interests of relative brevity, I am only repeating a few of the gems:

2003 – on problems with the theory of evolution: “Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which became a starfish, which became a cat, which became a donkey, which became a human being? There’s a real lack of evidence from change from actual species to a different type of species. That’s where it’s difficult to prove.”

2004 – on homosexuality: “Almost all, if not all, individuals who have gone into the lifestyle have been abused at one time in their life, either by a male or by a female.”

2005 – on the minimum wage: “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage – if conceivably it was gone – we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”

2008 – on global warming: “The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax.”

2009 – on why the domestic Peace Corps is a bad idea: “I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns (sic) is that there are provisions for what I would call reeducation camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums.”

2009 – on the Affordable Care Act: “If you are a grandmother with Parkinson’s or a child with cerebral palsy, watch out.”

2009 – on the swine flu epidemic: “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970’s that the swine flu broke out under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama. I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

Wasn’t it during the Ford administration? Not that I’m blaming President Ford.

2009 – on efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions: “Life on planet Earth can’t even exist without carbon dioxide. So necessary is it to human life, to animal life, to plant life, to the oceans, to the vegetation that’s on the Earth, to the, to the fowl that, that flies in the air, we need to have carbon dioxide as part of the fundamental lifecycle of Earth.”

2010 – on the costs of President Obama’s trip to India: “The president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He’s taking 2,000 people with him. He will be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are five-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending.”

2011 – on the Founding Fathers: “It didn’t matter the color of their skin, it didn’t matter their language, it didn’t matter their economic status, it didn’t matter whether they descended from known royalty or whether they were of a higher class or a lower class, it made no difference. Once you got here, you were all the same.”

Has she ever heard of slavery? Wait! Apparently she has:

“We know there was slavery that was still tolerated when the nation began. We know that was an evil and it was a scourge and a blot and a stain upon our history. But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.”

That’s a relief! I’d forgotten that Washington, Jefferson and all those founders were even still alive at the end of the Civil War, much less still working tirelessly.

2011 – on the promotion of energy-efficient light bulbs: “I think Thomas Edison did a pretty patriotic thing for this country by inventing the light bulb and I think darn well you New Hampshirites, if you want to buy Thomas Edison’s wonderful invention, you should be able to.”

And then there’s my personal favorite, also from 2011 – on the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer that even Governor Rick Perry of Texas supported: “I will tell you that I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Florida, after the debate. She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. There are very dangerous consequences.”

While all vaccines have some slight risk which is overwhelmingly outweighed by the personal and public health benefits, there have been no – repeat no – credible reports of mental retardation from the more than 35 million doses of the vaccine already administered. On the other hand, there are roughly 6,000,000 new cases of HPV reported each year in the United States and about 4,000 deaths.

Why am I going on about the remarks of one retiring congresswoman? It’s just this simple:

John Douglas and I have been pointing out the devastating consequences when those sworn to uphold the law substitute their own prejudices and confirmation biases for evidence-based investigation and analysis.

How much more devastating would it be if there were more people like Ms. Bachmann – those sworn to make the laws – with the same capricious disregard for truth?

This is a free country, but as the saying goes: We are each entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts.