6 ms·

What fraction of the US population would be classified as climate change deniers alongside them? If it is 25% then the congress is perfectly representative and

What fraction of the US population would be classified as climate change deniers alongside them? If it is 25% then the congress is perfectly representative and should be applauded. [EDIT] > polls show the proportion of Americans who share this view is significantly smaller, by as much as half So it is supposed to be over-represented but did the congress critters answer the same question? The linked poll of the public says another 11% were "doubtful" which is enough to get you labelled by the eco-commies.

ceejayoz 2y ago
Does this hold for racism, criminality, and intelligence? Should a certain percent of Congress be intellectually disabled?
- defrost 2y ago
  It's a gerontocracy and both gerontology and simple observation tell us that a number have significantly declined in intellectual capacity since their first entry into politics.
acdha 2y ago
Don’t forget, none of this is happening in a vacuum. The fossil fuel industry has spent billions of dollars trying to delay accountability and that has had a huge impact on the makeup of the Congress. The Republican Party didn’t used to be the anti-science party – that took decades of ideological filtering, setting up an alternative media environment and quasi-intellectual think tank career path, etc. to ensure that the people who get elected are the ones who represent the interests of certain businesses and training voters that the true unforgivable offense was bipartisan compromise on any issue. That wasn’t just fossil fuels - tobacco paid for a lot of it, including many of the same erstwhile “science experts” – and other factors played in (Obama’s election really stepped up the pressure not to be bipartisan even on previously innocuous things) but the important thing to remember is that it’s no more natural than a rose garden and requires constant maintenance.

ceejayoz 2y ago

Does this hold for racism, criminality, and intelligence? Should a certain percent of Congress be intellectually disabled?

defrost 2y ago
It's a gerontocracy and both gerontology and simple observation tell us that a number have significantly declined in intellectual capacity since their first entry into politics.

acdha 2y ago

Don’t forget, none of this is happening in a vacuum. The fossil fuel industry has spent billions of dollars trying to delay accountability and that has had a huge impact on the makeup of the Congress. The Republican Party didn’t used to be the anti-science party – that took decades of ideological filtering, setting up an alternative media environment and quasi-intellectual think tank career path, etc. to ensure that the people who get elected are the ones who represent the interests of certain businesses and training voters that the true unforgivable offense was bipartisan compromise on any issue. That wasn’t just fossil fuels - tobacco paid for a lot of it, including many of the same erstwhile “science experts” – and other factors played in (Obama’s election really stepped up the pressure not to be bipartisan even on previously innocuous things) but the important thing to remember is that it’s no more natural than a rose garden and requires constant maintenance.