The Georgia Senate Race Could Shape Up as a Demonstration of Militant Ignorance

In about ten months, the voters of Georgia are likely to have to decide whether to send Democrat Raphael Warnock back to the Senate or replace him with Republican Herschel Walker. It's true that the GOP primary field is crowded. But a poll from a consulting firm a couple of months ago showed that 74% of Georgia Republicans would vote for Walker over his primary opponents. 

Walker has, of course, garnered an endorsement from Donald Trump. But other GOP leaders have gotten on board as well, with Mitch McConnell saying that the former football star is “the only one who can unite the party, defeat Senator Warnock, and help us take back the Senate.”

With three-quarters of Georgia Republicans currently supporting Walker, McConnell could be right about him being the candidate "who can unite the party." But at what price? Walker has been avoiding public events and questions from the press. On the few occasions when he has spoken, it's not hard to understand why that would be a campaign strategy. As an example, here's a clip of Walker talking to the host of a right wing radio program in Georgia.

Herschel Walker says that Congressman John Lewis was “one of the greatest SENATORS that’s ever been,” and that the Voting Rights Bill “doesn’t fit what John Lewis stood for.” pic.twitter.com/2bZ3gRNjLx

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 23, 2021

First of all, John Lewis was never a senator. But even more importantly, the late congressman dedicated his life to fighting for voting rights. None of that is a matter of contention. It is just a fact. 

But that isn't the first time Walker has uttered practically incomprehensible lies. Take a look at this video clip he posted in September 2020.

The most important election in HISTORY, not just for ⁦@POTUS⁩ but all branches of Gov’t. Why does no one seem to care about the elephant in the room? #doyourhomework ⁦@FoxNews⁩ ⁦@CNN⁩ ⁦@MSNBC⁩ ⁦@espn⁩ ⁦@marthamaccallum⁩ @JudgeJeanine⁩ pic.twitter.com/QBRzq1SUSj

— Herschel Walker (@HerschelWalker) September 21, 2020

CNN's fact-checker Daniel Dale had trouble with that one, writing that "if we were understanding him correctly," Walker was referring to "a false claim that a Chinese-American group in California is a "company from China."

It is impossible to know whether Walker actually believes the things he's saying or if he is just intentionally lying. The man not only has a past that includes violent explosions, he has openly talked about suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (commonly referred to as multiple personality disorder).

The bigger question is why Georgia Republicans would support a candidate like that. One way to answer that is to recognize just how much they are threatened by Walker's opponent - Raphael Warnock - who recently said this during a speech on the Senate floor in support of a voting rights bill.

When I’m asked about bipartisanship—which I firmly believe in—I just have to ask, at what expense? Who is being asked to the foot the bill for this bipartisanship?

And is liberty itself the cost? pic.twitter.com/b7HVckQyIT

— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) December 14, 2021

But there is also an element of what Bill Schneider calls "militant ignorance." He distinguishes that from the kind of ignorance that comes with a lack of access to education. The militant variety is "Ignorance that is proud of itself, that holds knowledge in contempt."

I would submit that militant ignorance has been growing in this country for a while now. Back in the early 90s, a local sports commentator Joe Soucheray started a radio show called "Garage Logic." It lives on today as a podcast. Here's how the web site defines the show's name:

In an effort to pursue the basic logic and common sense which seem to be sadly lacking in modern America, Joe built a virtual city as a vehicle for discussion. … Joe believes that most problems can be solved using the type of discussions that commonly take place in garages.

Of course, Joe doesn't have to be explicit about the fact that garages are where men tend to hang out. But it undergirds the whole premise. 

If that kind of "logic" sounds familiar, it is perhaps because Stephen Colbert gave it a name back in 2005 - truthiness - which he defined as "the belief in what you feel to be true rather than what the facts will support."

The guys hanging out in a garage are then pitted against "elites" who actually develop expertise by studying the facts. In that way, militant ignorance is celebrated and anyone with expertise is treated with disdain. In such a world, it makes sense to put parents in charge of public education rather than teachers or to elect a reality television star as president. It is also how we got to the place during a pandemic where only 45 percent of Republicans said they had a lot of confidence in science, down from 72 percent in 1975.

You can count on the fact that, should the 2022 Georgia Senate race be a contest between Warnock and Walker, the former will be tarred as an elitist (after all, he does have a PhD from Union Theological Seminary) and the latter will be hailed for his ability to connect with the guys in the garage, even as he spreads lies and conspiracy theories. Thomas Jefferson had a remedy for that:

I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.