Paul Krugman explains why Republicans have become hostile to science. They predicted that the Fed's monetary policies were going to create hyperinflation five years ago. Instead of inflation we are experiencing disinflation. Disconfirming evidence has not altered their outlook on inflation. Someday they may be right if they continue to predict inflation. Even worse, they invented conspiracy theories to counter the evidence. They claim that the government is doctoring the data.
They continue to do the same thing about global warming. Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida who hopes to win the presidential nomination from his party, responded to concerns about the risk of rising sea levels due to the sliding ice sheet in Antarctica, by claiming the scientific evidence for global warming is questionable. Previously, he had refused to question skepticism within the GOP base about the age of the earth and the theory of evolution.
The hostility of the Republican Party to science has been backed into their cake. The can't win elections without support from millions of their loyal supporters who have been carefully cultivated to reject scientific evidence that is contrary to their belief system. This does not auger well for politics in the US. Senator Rubio, and most of the GOP political leaders, are unable to separate themselves from the ignorance that they have nurtured in their political base.
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