Sam Harris on Sarah Palin

Sam Harris summarizes well why I’ll elect not to vote before I vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. You can read the Newsweek article here.

When McCain first announced Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate, Matt Damon came out on camera against her, saying, “I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. That’s an important — I want to know that, I really do, because she’s going to have the nuclear codes.” It’s a fantastic quote, made even better by his own delivery of it, genuine concern mixed in with some biting humor.

I do share his worry. Can the United States really have a woman a heartbeat away from the highest office of the land, arguably the world, believing Earth no older than 10,000 years?

I say we cannot.

That alone is a deal breaker for me. I don’t care if she’s a working mom of five, an accomplished mayor, and a popular governor. The religion she has worked into her science defies reasoned thought. It indicates an individual willing to put facts on hold, what she actually believes on faith. That’s a problem because President Bush was largely quoted as relying on faith when determining whether to launch a war against Iraq. Looking back, he should have also prayed that Iraq really had WMD.

I’m afraid our country just can’t afford decision making based on the mysticism of a Christian deity. Our next leader must engage in a hefty dose of intellectual wrangling to solve the myriad of problems directly caused by a distracted, stubborn, isolated administration.

And because they’re going to have the nuclear codes.