Whether you believe Darwin had it right about the evolution of the species or not, do you believe there is any truth to social Darwinism the idea that natural selection does and indeed should apply to social order among mankind? The idea was first advanced by Joseph Fischer in 1877, and by the early 1900s it had gained a significant patina of being scientific fact, even though there was never any sound science underlying it. Perhaps it just fit well with the nation’s psychological needs after the civil war. It justified the emerging social order during the gilded age. There was nothing wrong with robber barons getting to the top by tooth and claw. That’s just the way society was designed by nature, the reasoning ran. That must have sounded pretty good to the best and brightest, who stood the best chance of profiting from a society so ordered.

Yale University Professor William Graham Sumner was an early and vocal proponent of Social Darwinism in America. He taught the philosophy to several generations of the young nation’s most powerful and influential business and political leaders. It is now deeply infused in our national meme, even for those of us who never give it a thought. So let’s do give it some thought. Is survival of the fittest the way to order a society? Should the weak be tossed under the bus? Is that a political decision, a financial one, or is it actual science? Where do you think society should draw the line on protecting the least among us?