Rick Perry—Christian Fascist Lunatic To Be Energy Secretary
December 15, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
On Tuesday it was announced that Trump’s choice for Energy Secretary is Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas. All the mainstream press pointed out that while running for president in 2012, Perry stated in a televised presidential debate that he planned to eliminate three federal departments but then forgot the name of the third, the same Department of Energy he’s now been appointed to head.
As funny and bumbling as this makes him look, there are much more frightening ramifications tied up with Perry’s appointment than being a buffoon. The Department of Energy is in charge of designing nuclear weapons, watching over the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and developing and guiding energy policy. It is very influential in deciding the direction of basic science in the U.S.
Now U.S. nuclear and energy policy will be in the hands of a man with a stated hostility to facts and science and with deep connections to Christian fundamentalist fanatics. Perry has ties with the American Family Association and the New Apostolic Reformation movement, fundamentalist trends and individuals that believe Christians are commanded by the Bible to take “dominion” over government and all sectors of modern society. According to an article in the Texas Observer written during Perry’s run in 2012, top “apostles” in this movement believe God speaks directly through them, and when “mankind fails to heed the prophecies, the results can be catastrophic: earthquakes in Japan, terrorist attacks in New York, and economic collapse.” Some of these so-called “prophets” believe they have ended mad cow disease in Germany and brought rain to relieve drought in Texas. And some of these pastors have personal ties to Perry, who they saw as being an agent of God to play a special role in Texas and beyond.
Perry combines lunatic fundamentalism and denial of scientific reality with good old-fashioned capitalist profit-making through playing a central role in expanding fracking in Texas and helping combat communities that tried to ban fracking to save their water and land from spoliation.
Perry is a climate-change denier (he says it is a myth perpetuated by climate change scientists to “keep the money rolling in”). He is an anti-science evolution-denier, who has pushed Texas schools to teach versions of “creationism.”
Now this know-nothing, misogynist, fundamentalist nut case will be heading the leading U.S. agency on nuclear and energy matters, including in relation to the danger of climate change. Perry’s appointment to the Trump/Pence “legion of doom” is further confirmation of the complete illegitimacy of this coming fascist regime.
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