In a desperate attempt to avoid reading the vast conservative library or quickly glancing at The Pillars, Chris Mooney at the Washington Post releases a classic of the “Why the heck do conservatives think the way they do?!” genre:

“Follow the money.” As a young journalist on the political left, I often heeded this well-worn advice. If conservatives were denying the science of global warming, I figured, big fossil-fuel companies must be behind it. After all, that was the story with the tobacco industry and the dangers of smoking. Why not here?

And so I covered the attacks on the established scientific knowledge on climate change, evolution and many more issues as a kind of search for the wealthy bad guys behind the curtain. Like many in Washington, I tended to assume that political differences are either about contrasting philosophies or, more cynically, about money and special interests.

Mooney should’ve stopped at “contrasting philosophies”. Continue reading →