Hunting Down Social Darwinism Will This Canard Go Extinct

Extinctionof the SocialDarwinismCanard 249

praises“Nature” for being“anti-Christ.Darwinismis the mortalformof Hebraism.”
Redbeardresultantlyhatesany Christianexhortationto be “altruistic,abandonthe world,
and loveyourenemies.” He preferswhathe judgesto be the law of the jungle.“Nature’s
commandis, ‘Be egoist,possessthe earthand fightit out.’” RedbeardcitesHerbertSpen-
cer but once,quotinghimsaying“a creaturenot energeticenoughto maintainitselfmust
die.” Despitethe minisculeinfluencethatSpencer’s philosophyhas exertedon Red-
beard’s, the editorof a twentieth-centuryeditionof thisbookprovidesannotationsat-
temptingto cast Redbeard’s worldviewas a logicalextensionof Spencer’s politicalecono-
my.^99 But the historical record reveals that no nineteenth-century intellectual has
achievedprominenceadvocatinganythingnearwhata laissez-fairesocialDarwinism
doctrinehas beenimaginedto be. Thatsomethingas paltryasMightIs Rightamountsto
one of the morefamousnineteenth-centurywritingsto cite Darwinismin lettingthe poor
die, is evidencethat no laissez-fairesocialDarwinismevercaughton.
Althoughthe politicalLeftoriginatedthe socialDarwinismbogeyman,the Leftis not
alonein exploitingit. As mentionedin chapter2, the ReligiousRightsuggeststhat anyone
whoacceptsthe validityof naturalselectionis a socialDarwinist.Uponhintingas much,
the ReligiousRightimpliesthatthe negativeconsequenceof left-wingscientiststeaching
kidsaboutnaturalselectionis thatkidswhoacceptthesefactswillgrowup likelierto
enactsocialDarwinism.Conservativesemploythisbogeymanin publicdebatesabout
physician-assistedsuicide—moreappropriatelyknownasaid in dying—andabortion.
Theseconservativespointout that PlannedParenthoodfounderand sex-educationadvo-
cateMargaretSangerwasa racisteugenicistandthatthe Nazismurderedthe elderly
underthe pretextof euthanasia.On this basis,declareNationalReviewcontributingeditor
JonahGoldberg—whootherwiseseemedinterestedin settingthe recordstraighton social
Darwinism—andthe conservativeFrontPageMagazine, someonewhosupportsthe right

Table10.1. Comparisonbetweenthe ExplicitPolicyPositionsof Free-MarketEvolutionists
(HerbertSpencerand WilliamGrahamSumner)and the Eugenicists

PoliticalPosition Positionof Free-Market Positionof the Eugenicists(including

Evolutionists(Herbert TheodoreRoosevelt,GeorgeBernard

Spencerand William Shaw,LesterWard,LouisBrandeis,the

GrahamSumner) ProgressiveMovement,and Joseph

Goebbels)

GovernmentRegulation Against For

AntitrustLaw Against For

Tax-FundedWelfare Against For

GovernmentDiscriminating Against For

on Race

CompulsorySurgeryon Against For

ReproductiveOrgansof

Epilepticsand Mental

Patients

LawsForbiddingWomen Against For

FromTakingSpecificJobs

Consensually

ImmigrationRestriction SpencerFor, Sumner For

Against

WhitesMilitarilyConquering Against For

NonwhitePeoples