Susan Jacoby, “The Age of American Unreason”

From her book:

It remains to be seen, as the current [2008] presidential campaign unfolds, whether Americans are willing to consider what the flight from reason has cost us as a people and whether any candidate has the will or the courage to talk about ignorance as a political issue affecting everything from scientific research to decisions about war and peace.

Interview with Bill Moyers in 2008 here.  Her points are still very relevant today.