Critical thinking requires an ability to rationalize thought logically. That attribute has been absent from the GOP statements and political positions since the emergence of the Tea Party. What characterizes GOP discourse nowdays is infantilism, hyperbole, deliberate distortions of the truth, outlandish claims, and non-sensical proposals. I think this is actually wonderful and I believe the DNC should encourage the RNC, and the TP in particular, to keep up the good work.

This is not “news”. This is at least as old as “No Child Left Behind” and probably older than “Creation Science”. When we’re not “teaching to the test” we’re making sure that our kids stay in line and respect their authority figures (especially the ones on Fox News and Talk Radio). It is so much easier to control a stupid population than to be in real dialog with an educated one.

Bravo Dominick – I think you hit the nail on the head!

The honest base of the Republican Party are those individuals that can not think for themselves, mostly generational Republicans who vote Republican because Great Grandfather voted Republican.

These non-thinking Republicans vote the party line even though they are voting against their own self interest. I have noted this for years in rural Pennsylvania, that is dieing economicaly, where the Republican registration advantage is 2.5 to 1.

It proves that the Republicans and Fox News rely on the ignorance of the voters.

“Don’t want my kid learning to think for himself, he might get uppity. Next thing you know women will be voting and n*****s will be riding in the front of the bus and drinking from the same water bubbler as me. We might not even be able to just grab a mexican girl off the street for a nights fun.” (Sic)
Reminds me of those old movies where a teacher goes up into the hills and no one wants her to teach their kids.

I cannot fathom what Texas Republicans think critical thinking skills are. It is evident the platform writers don’t know or they wouldn’t have made such a non-sensical claim. I am a classroom teacher. I struggle all year long, every year, to teach critical thinking skills. The higher up the ladder of rational thought I can move my students, the better teacher I consider myself to be. If I am a parent and I learn that my student will not be taught higher order and critical thinking skills, I want another teacher for my child.

Very well said…. we ought to send a copy of this to every conservative who still exhibits the ability to think for themselves, there are smart ones out there, so that they may start to change their own from within,,,,, I don’t want anyone to grow up systematically dumb…. the current state copycat blind belief hurts the US people collectively. And our competitive edge in the world profoundly…. the rest of the world laughs at us. Do you like that? I’m embarrassed by it.

This does not bode well for people who live in states controlled by a tea party governor. We see the anti science of Niki Hailey governor of SC in recent rulings that sea level rise be removed from state documents. Not to be out righted the Republican dominated VA legislature is considering the same. But there is an underside of this that is pushed by right wing pundits, and polls. It’s called unquestioned obedience. If you lack critical thinking skills you won’t question, and if you can’t figure it out you won’t understand that we are fast becomming an oligarchy ruled by the few at the top. It requires complex understanding to see the financial connections that are being woven worldwide by the job creators who must be revered. In their mind Jesus wants the corporate elite to dominate the world, munipulate interest rates that we all pay, control crop,production, energy, and in monsantos case to control all the seed we use. All to lavish the bounty of the world onto the 1% who are greedy beyond anything we have ever seen. They have already packed the court with their people who could come up with a citizens united decision that will allow the super wealthy to buy the elections, wipeout labor unions and to fund only reasearch that will benefit them finacially. Why cure disease when there is so much money to be made treating it. Why care about the enviornment when there is money to be made destroying it. why care about children, when there are too many anyway.
This is the new world order , and the the right wing has become the pawns in the larger game. One that with their limited thinking skills they can’t understand.

That is why this Party should be named the Repugnant Party! And Texas returned to Mexico! And George W. Bush banished to the bushes in Australia! Of course none of these will ever happen and nothing will ever change in Texas. And the Republican Party will become repugnant by the day.

LOOK!!
There are some REALLY SMART people in Texas, we are just smart enough to “Shut Up or Get Shot”
Can’t blame a person for wanting to LIVE!
The rest of the USA is just now noticing – where have Y”ALL been all these years?

America is DOOMED. It was a nice short run. Not exactly equaling the 800 years of the Roman empire, but longer than communism. I just read a report that College costs are exploding. Soon the only people with a college education will be the very rich. Just the way the Corporate masters of America want it.

To achieve critical thinking assumes the ability to think at all which is obviously lacking in modern day Republicans such as Rush Limberdick & Co. Kinda scary that anyone would buy into such incredible illogic as is being broadcast by these morons!

When people are ignorant, they tend to agree more with the GOP!
GAME PLAN: Make people stupid so the GOP can rule them!

America is hurt each time a conservative Republican steps in2 elective office. So it comes as not a surprise at all that the state that sent ‘Bush’s’ to the executives of FL, TX & the U.S. presidency (twice) & look at the outcomes? Deterioration, degeneration, regression; it all points to us citizens however, as ‘SOME OF US’ are unable to resist the “Pavlov” affects of catch-words & phrase ‘triggers’ that incite voters to do the stupidest things – like voting against their economic mobility, their safety & security, their future (quality, ENLIGHTENING & COMPREHENSIVE education!!!), in exchange for enslavement to some selfish, barbaric elite w/money enuff to pay people to think being abused equates to being loved!!! THIS is the ‘coded’ message tucked deep w/in conservative rhetoric – don’t compete w/elites – be their slaves instead!!! In Texas, Colorado, Florida, Arizona, etc., they’ve embraced this message & are taking it to the next level – total acceptance…

My daughter is a grad student at UT Austin. She is a teaching assistant for some freshman courses in American Studies. Most of her students are products of the Texas education system. She reports that not only do many of the students lack factual information (e.g. “Slavery was an important issue in the early 20th century”), but many are unable to construct a cogent argument or come to logical conclusions in their essays. This will only make things worse.

I guess the whole idea of having a ‘liberal education’, meaning learning about everything in order to learn to think critically, to have knowledge of the world, NOT a vocational training – that’s down the drain. These RWMs believe schooling should only train children for vocations; there is no other reason to be educated, I guess, because the kids should not have their fixed beliefs challenged.
So the Republicans want to dumbify America some more. Probably, their constituents are more tractable when they’re ignorant. Bush43 was all about this, dumbifying the rest of the class or school when some students were found to be below standards, keeping all of them back until the below-standard students made their grades.
What happened to the love of knowledge for its own sake?

America blinded by an authority figure of the 1500′s – Martin Luther

“Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but — more frequently than not — struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.”

“I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.”

Some wonder if the German meme that accepted the authority figure Hitler was seeded by Martin Luther.

I wonder how many Texans think critical thinking should be banned. Heck how many Texas Republicans for that matter feel that way. I wrote since it seems at least with some Tx Goppers thinking is passe.

Republican/Mitt Romney policies: Education = Keep people as stupid as possible so that they keep voting for Republicans who hate them. Military policy = War for profit, and I don’t care how many innocent people die so long as my war stocks go up. Health care = die. Jobs = outsourcing. Unemployment = Hurry up and die. Women’s rights = get back in the kitchen and poop out some more babies you can’t support, and we’re not going to help you with them either. Mitt Romney = death of America. Unemployment will do nothing but increase wherever Republicans have power. I made a video about unemployment, and how we can fix it. It’s at my YouTube channel Zarrakan, and here’s the link:
2012 6 5 ZOC Job Pyramid
Watch it, share it, and join the fight against those who want to kill all of us with destructive social policies.

Some of that is *not* *true* critical thinking thinking skills, but silent indoctrination. That being said, I think that it is silly to oppose higher learning of any sort. The true critical thinker will eventually challenge even those thoughts with ones of their own.

This is hysteria at its worst, on both sides of the aisle, I might add. But I seriously doubt there are enough truly critical thinkers here to realize that and convince the community that this rag supports.

If you have a population largely incapable (or afraid) of critical thought, democracy is dead. Is that the goal of the people now in charge of the Republican Party? If so, they need to be fought for the traitors of the Constitution and the American People they are.

You’d think that the Republicans would be smart enough to keep this kind of thing under wraps until after the election — but no, they completely lack critical thinking — which is what they want to spread across the rest of America. They do not believe in evolution and have succeeded in keeping it out of their text books. Plus, Romney thinks it’s a good idea to make public school classrooms LARGER. I wonder how large his classrooms were in his expensive, private schools — probably only 8-12 students. He thinks it’s fine for all the rest of America’s children to sit in classrooms with 40-45 students. Again, the Repubicans only want the top 2% to have the best — the rest of America will just have to make do with what “trickles down” from the top 2%.

I say we let Texas secede (again) and go back to being its own Republic.

Leonard Pitts, Jr. is a “WOW” journalist. He’s a tell it like it is writer, and for that, thank you, Mr. Pitts.
Back in the 1960s comedian Mickey Sharp told the story of his drive through Texas from a date in California, to get to his Hollywood, Florida Diplomat Resort engagement. “I was stopped by a Texas highway patrol officer who said, ‘ I hate when you New Yorkers speed in those big ass Volkswagons through my town. Here, take my book and pencil, and write down what I tell ya.”

Send Sam Houston in there to kill those republicans they are worse for this country then the Mexacans.

They’re from Texas… what can you do