The EquivocationInfectsthe Intellectuals 57winismandMalthusianismbeforeit, eugenicsfoundits warmestreceptionamongBrit-
ain’slaissez-faireliberals.”^33
PolemicistGeorgeGilder,anothermemberof the ReligiousRightwhoespousessome
free-marketrhetoric,charges,“BothNazismandcommunismwereinspiredby Darwin-
ism.”^34 PatrickJ. Buchanan(b. 1938)is a religiousfundamentalistand business-thrashing
governistpoliticianandessayist.DespiteBuchanandoingwellto makehis viewpoint
known,the mediawantonlymischaracterizehimas an opponentof the welfarestate.
Whatis relevantis thatBuchanantakeshis approachesof Christianzealotryandanti-
capitalismto theirlogicalconclusion.In his writingshe repeatseveryleft-wing,Hofstad-
ter-inspireduntruthaboutSpencerfoundingsocialDarwinismandgovernisteugenics.
ThitherBuchananproclaimsthatit wasDarwin’s discoveryof biologicalevolutionthat
proddedSpencerto originatehis vile doctrines.Fromthis,Buchananexpectshis readers
to concludethatfor youto acceptthe realityof biologicalevolutionis to renderyou
loathsomeand hateful,whereasmoraland humanebehavioris contingentuponan arbi-
traryrefusalto acceptthe veracityof evolutionarytheory.BuchananraspsthatDarwin’s
discovery“suitedthe purposeof the eugenicistsandHerbertSpencer,whopreacheda
survival-of-the-fittestsocialDarwinismto robberbaronindustrialistsexploiting19th-cen-
turyimmigrants.. .” Thenhe adds,“DarwinsuitedAdolfHitler’s purposes,too.” Upon
quotinga religiousfundamentalistbooktryingto pin warfareand genocideon Darwin’s
statementof facts,Buchananconcludes,“Darwinismis not science.It is faith.Always
was.”^35
Indeed,in a singlecontroversywe can observeboththe ReligiousRightandsecular
Left engagein the samesort of defamatorytacticsregardingsocialDarwinism.InExpelled:
No IntelligenceAllowed—a propagandisticdocumentarythatarguesfor BiblicalCreation-
ism andagainstatheism—HollywoodactorandconservativeactivistBen Stein(b. 1944)
invokesthe memoryof government-imposedeugenicsandtriesto blameDarwinian
theoryfor it. ThenSteinconfrontsevolutionarybiologistRichardDawkinsaboutthe
ethicalramificationsof Darwiniantheory.As is typicalof propagandafromthe Religious
Right,Expelledinsinuatesa directlyproportionalrelationshipbetweenthe extentto which
someone(a) recognizesevolutionarytheory’s validityand (b) concludesthat government-
imposedeugenicsis ethicallyrighteous.To wit,BenStein’s moviearguesthatto enact
governisteugenicsis simplyto takean acceptanceof evolutionarytheoryto its logically
inevitableand necessaryconclusion.The movieblamesCharlesDarwinfor Naziismand
the Holocaust.The implicationof the argumentis thatthereis but one methodfor us to
avoidbecomingeugenicists:we mustdenyany acceptanceof evolutionarytheory.
Interestingly,the filmdoesnot mentionHerbertSpencer.Spencer’s namecouldnot go
unmentionedfor long,of course,in a debateof this sort.On the websiteof his not-for-
profiteducationalfoundation,RichardDawkinsrespondedtoExpelledin the mannerthat
peoplenormallyrespondwhenaccusedof beingsocialDarwinists.Thatis, Dawkinstook
it at facevaluethat socialDarwinismwasan actualideologicalmovementand that it was
populatedby right-wing,uncharitablebigots.Dawkinsfiredback,I am not a right-wing,
uncharitablebigot.Therefore,by definitionI cannotbe a socialDarwinist. Theseare Dawkins’s
words:“...I wantto constructa societywhichis aboutas un-Darwinianas we can makeit.
I approveof lookingafterthe poor(veryun-Darwinian).I approveof universalmedical
care(veryun-Darwinian).... If we lookat... history,the closestrepresentativesyou’ll
findto Darwinianpoliticsare uncompassionateconservativeslikeMargaretThatcher,
GeorgeW. Bush,or Ben Stein’s ownhero,RichardNixon.Maybeall thesepeople,along
withthe SocialDarwinistsfromHerbertSpencerto JohnD. Rockefeller,committedthe is/
oughtfallacyandjustifiedtheirunpleasantsocialviewsby invokinggarbledDarwin-
ism.”^36