Former Republican Congressman Sherwood Boehlert wrote an interesting op-ed in today's Washington Post about why the Republican Party is eschewing science for political reasons.
I am sympathetic to the author's position that verifiable scientific facts must not be questioned and the only political angle must be the solutions to address them. However, I disagree with him that the climate change skepticism is purely political, especially when we know evangelical fundamentalism is much more rampant in the United States compared to other developed countries. What has happened is the fundamentalism has infected right-wing politics, to the point where we have this joker potentially in line to chair the House Energy Committee, all the while believing that there isn't enough carbon on earth and once stating in a committee hearing:
"...the earth will end only when God declares it's time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood.... I appreciate having panelists here who are men of faith, and we can get into the theological discourse of that position, but I do believe God's word is infallible, unchanging, perfect. Today we have about 388 parts per million in the atmosphere. I think in the age of dinosaurs, when we had the most flora and fauna, we were probably at 4,000 parts per million. There is a theological debate that this is a carbon-starved planet — not too much carbon. And the cost of a cap-and-trade on the poor is now being discovered."
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