Well, look at that; the Republicans squeak into control of the House, largely by exploiting the complete ignorance of much of the country with regard to the Healthcare Act; and immediately they set to work trying to find the most harmful way in which to use their “mandate” in order to ensure that the dysfunction of the Bush years be fully reinstated and even exceeded.  

I invite everyone to pitch their candidate for “worst idea” proposed by Republicans in Congress; but the big winner for me is the push reported on today to defund or even eliminate the EPA.

Ever since we learned, courtesy of a 2008 presidential debate, that the most influential Republicans do not even believe in evolution, we knew this day was coming.  Cocooned in their own little fiefdom of faulty science, the new Republican brain-trust calls itself “conservative,” but indulges in revisionist fantasies that are anything but.  Throwing caution to the wind they have embraced, with gusto, the opposite of what the rest of the world considers to be settled science with regard to climate change and the need to “conserve” both our exploitable resources and the finite environment of the planet.

These so-called “conservatives” have allowed the superstitions of their fringe to seize control of the agenda, so that policy is being driven by people who believe that a supreme being gave them permission to use-up the planet’s resources and atmosphere in a single lifetime after which he will deliver them, magically and without consequence, to Valhalla.  If I saw this plot in a movie I wouldn’t believe it.

What worries me most is that our president, elected in 2008 by an overwhelming majority to move this country forward in so many ways, has lately been showing signs of handing the whole operation back to the same corrupt forces who brought us to this unfortunate juncture in our democracy.  Two days ago he was schmoozing those arch-enemies of environmental and social responsibility, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who have recently gained even more power to influence elections, courtesy of the Supreme Court decision on campaign finance.  Yesterday, we were treated to the news that he proposes to slash heating aid for the poor, a sure-hit with Dickensian partisans on the right.  One has to wonder what sort of bouquet of “compromise” he plans to offer the Climate Change deniers.