Gore: Reason and America

There is a large part of American culture that distrusts logic, reason, and empiricism. This is George Bush's natural home, and it's not compatible with the survival of our civilization. Al Gore:

The Assault on Reason - Al Gore - Book - Review - New York Times

...Mr. Gore’s central argument is that “reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions” and that the country’s public discourse has become “less focused and clear, less reasoned.” This “assault on reason,” he suggests, is personified by the way the Bush White House operates. Echoing many reporters and former administration insiders, Mr. Gore says that the administration tends to ignore expert advice (be it on troop levels, global warming or the deficit), to circumvent the usual policy-making machinery of analysis and debate, and frequently to suppress or disdain the best evidence available on a given subject so it can promote predetermined, ideologically driven policies...

There's an obvious political problem with this book. Fundamentalism, both ideological and religious, is the opposite of reason. Even the Jesuits struggle at times with their relationship to science. America is a very religious country. This book may be Gore's way of making perfectly clear to the public what they'll get if he runs for office. It's not politic.