House Republicans hate science so much that they killed the creation on an honorary science laureate position, because they were afraid that the laureate might believe in climate change.
According to Science Insider:
Climate science skeptics have derailed a congressional proposal to create the honorary position of U.S. science laureate. But proponents haven’t abandoned the idea of giving someone a national platform to foster public understanding of science and serve as a role model.
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On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives was expected to give swift approval to a bill introduced this spring by a bipartisan coalition of legislators in both the House and the Senate. The legislation would allow the president to name not more than three laureates at a time to an unpaid position that could last up to 2 years. The idea was considered so innocuous that it was to be brought up under special rules requiring a two-thirds majority and allowing no amendments.
The bill was never discussed in any committee, however, and Larry Hart of the American Conservative Union hit the roof when he saw it on the House calendar for the next day. (The Washington, D.C.-based group calls itself “the oldest and largest grassroots conservative organization in the nation.”) In a letter to other conservative organizations and every House member, Hart said the bill would give President Barack Obama the opportunity to appoint someone “who will share his view that science should serve political ends, on such issues as climate change and regulation of greenhouse gases.” He also called the bill “a needless addition to the long list of presidential appointments.”
Everything that the climate change deniers are saying about the position is completely wrong. The science laureate position would be honorary. It is not taxpayer funded. It is also not a political position. Since the laureate position would use zero taxpayer dollars, it isn’t a presidential appointment.
It is stunning that climate change deniers have such a powerful voice in the House of Representatives, but this really isn’t about climate change.
Republicans are at war with science, all science. It doesn’t matter whether the scientific area of study is stem cells, the creation of the universe, or climate change. Far right Republicans are opposed to it all, and doing everything that they can to discredit conventional science.
These are also many of the same Republicans that consider themselves tea partiers. If we connect the dots along this line of ideology, it reveals that today’s tea partiers were yesterday’s members of the Moral Majority. This “new right” is actually the old evangelical right wearing a disguise of tea bags on their heads.
One of the main reasons why the Republican Party is devolving is their rejection of facts that they disagree with. Republican ideology is the antithesis of science. This is why the scientific community has become enemy number one of America’s conservative causers.
The House couldn’t even pass a simple piece of legislation to create an honorary position, because some science deniers got themselves in a tizzy over having a person in an honorary position that subscribes to reality.
The government isn’t broken. The problem is that that one of the two political parties in this country has gone completely insane.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
