Treasonous Republicans

Paul Krugman argues that Republicans are committing treason against the entire planet.

I don't know if treason is the right word, but the Republican party is evidence of the fruits of theology and educational systems that do not place a premium on the scientific method. What we have in large swaths of this country (primarily in the states of the old Confederacy) is an intellectually bankrupt idea that belief trumps facts. What that has brought us is a rapidly warming planet (as well as a bankrupt political ideology [neoconservatism] and trillions of dollars thrown away in a moronic war).

The truth is sometimes painful. And the truth here is that the planet is warming up. The truth is that the costs of stopping humanity's contribution to a warming world will be painful to bear. The truth is that not doing anything will be far more painful to our descendants.

Here is something that may also come to pass: The vocal resistance to doing anything to address climate change from the eight-year delay of the Bush Administration and now the know-nothings in the GOP may lead to the extinction of the Republican party. For when things start to really go bad, people are going to look around for who was to blame. They'll blame the energy companies, who delayed any action by using the same tactics as the tobacco companies did ("junk science" "it's not proven") and then they'll blame the political parties who followed the cues (and the cash) of the energy companies.

Which leaves three ways to categorize the party of Hoover's resistance to doing anything about climate change: They are (i) crooks that took bribes; (ii) idiots; or (iii) traitors. Or "all of the above."