A Progressive, a Brontosaurus, and the Science of Intelligent Design

[rodeodance]

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0804-21.htm

Published on Thursday, August 4, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
A Progressive, a Brontosaurus, and the Science of Intelligent Design
by Steven Laffoley

I wonder: in America today, has the word "progressive" become just a museum exhibit?

Maybe.

On a summer day in Manhattan, my wife, daughter, and I escape the intense heat of midday by walking the shaded paths of Central Park. And though it's cooler strolling among the trees, the humidity still hangs heavy and holds much of the day's heat. So we exit the park on the west side and seek refuge elsewhere - in the cool, dry air of the American Museum of Natural History.

Inside, my wife stands in line to buy tickets, while my daughter and I explore the grand, cavernous entrance hall. Immediately, my daughter runs to the hall's centre, staring with dropped-jawed awe at the enormous skeletal reconstruction of a Brontosaurus. Although I share her awe, I find I'm more drawn to the ornate, granite walls with rich raised lettering that record the words and wisdom of President Theodore Roosevelt, a lifelong naturalist who literally grew up with, and frequently contributed to, this museum.

One particular quote catches my eye. It reads: "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." For a moment, I consider Roosevelt's words, and specifically, the word "progressive." Among other things, the word means "a person advocating social reform." But, so too, it means "promoting or favouring progress toward better conditions or new policies, ideas, or methods." I smile as I wonder what Theodore Roosevelt might think of President Bush's aggressive antipathy toward the word "progressive."......

[tocqueville]

1. one day the bushosauruses

will become extinct species

[Canuckistanian]

2. Donaldus Rumsfeldii is already a fossil

He just hasn't lain down yet.