A new Super PAC with close ties to Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is laying plans to spend as much as $55 million to help him win the Republican presidential nomination, a sign that outside groups are likely to play a pivotal role in the party’s selection of its candidate.

The group, Make Us Great Again, was formed in late July by a group of Texas political operatives and major Perry donors. Unlike Mr. Perry’s own campaign — which did not officially begin until two weeks later — Make Us Great Again is permitted to accept contributions of unlimited amounts to spend in support of Mr. Perry’s presidential ambitions, so long as the group does not coordinate its expenditures with Mr. Perry’s campaign.

According to a planning document distributed in recent days to some supporters, Make Us Great Again is preparing for what amounts to a full-service primary campaign, with television advertisements, direct mail and social media outreach.

Jon Huntsman Jr., a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn’t a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that’s too bad, because Mr. Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the G.O.P. — namely, that it is becoming the “anti-science party.” This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us.

To see what Mr. Huntsman means, consider recent statements by the two men who actually are serious contenders for the G.O.P. nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, recently made headlines by dismissing evolution as “just a theory,” one that has “got some gaps in it” — an observation that will come as news to the vast majority of biologists. But what really got peoples’ attention was what he said about climate change: “I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.”

That’s a remarkable statement — or maybe the right adjective is “vile.”

So what you need to know is that the Texas miracle is a myth, and more broadly that Texan experience offers no useful lessons on how to restore national full employment.

It’s true that Texas entered recession a bit later than the rest of America, mainly because the state’s still energy-heavy economy was buoyed by high oil prices through the first half of 2008. Also, Texas was spared the worst of the housing crisis, partly because it turns out to have surprisingly strict regulation of mortgage lending.

Despite all that, however, from mid-2008 onward unemployment soared in Texas, just as it did almost everywhere else.

In June 2011, the Texas unemployment rate was 8.2 percent. That was less than unemployment in collapsed-bubble states like California and Florida, but it was slightly higher than the unemployment rate in New York, and significantly higher than the rate in Massachusetts. By the way, one in four Texans lacks health insurance, the highest proportion in the nation, thanks largely to the state’s small-government approach. Meanwhile, Massachusetts has near-universal coverage thanks to health reform very similar to the “job-killing” Affordable Care Act.

So where does the notion of a Texas miracle come from? Mainly from widespread misunderstanding of the economic effects of population growth.

If Governor Perry had prayed “in secret” instead of spending hours rallying people to public prayer in a stadium, he might have had time to go seven miles down the road and join what was actually the biggest gathering in Houston that day. An “estimated 100,000 people” came to a convention center to get “free backpacks, school supplies, uniforms, haircut vouchers, immunizations, and fresh produce.”

People waited in line for hours to get these free services. One-fifth of Houston area residents lived below the poverty level as of 2009, 3 percentage points higher than the national average.

Some were turned away. “It was getting beyond capacity,” [Houston Independent School District] spokesman Jason Spencer said. “If nothing else, it shows the need.”

So when Jesus is talking about hypocrisy and prayer, this might be what he meant. At one location in Houston, a governor is praying loudly for those “who have lost hope” while the budget he passed in Texas cuts millions from services for the poor and needy, as well as from education. And down the road, at another location, there are the very people who have lost hope because of those budget cuts.

Here’s the biggest biblical irony of all. According to Matthew 25, Jesus was actually with the 100,000 poor people at the convention center.

Just a little further into the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says explicitly that he is actually present in those who are hungry, thirsty, and in need of clothes, health care and a decent justice system.

“‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’”

Jesus reply comes clearly: “ ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:37-40)