A new study shows how unique Republican views are across the developed world

[kpete]

The Guardian
Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian


A paper published in the journal Politics and Policy by Sondre Båtstrand at the University of Bergen in Norway compared the climate positions of conservative political parties around the world.

Båtstrand examined the platforms or manifestos of the conservative parties from the USA, UK, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany.

He found that the US Republican Party stands alone in its rejection of the need to tackle climate change and efforts to become the party of climate supervillains.

..............

"In any other democracy in the world, a Jeb Bush would be an isolated loon, operating outside the major parties, perhaps carrying on at conferences with fellow cranks, but having no prospects of seeing his vision carried out in government. But the United States is different.

Here in America, ideas like Bush’s fit comfortably within one of the two major political parties. Indeed, the greatest barrier to Bush claiming his party’s nomination is the quite possibly justified sense that he is too sober and moderate to suit the GOP."

the rest:
http://www.businessinsider.com/study-republican-climate-change-views

[Xipe Totec]

1. The GOP is totally a loon in the world nt

[BlueJazz]

2. My European friends are simply amazed at how backward our republicans seem to be.

They say things like "How can thinking people be so primitive?

Cracks me up!

[Human101948]

3. Because they have been trained to dance like organ grinder monkeys...

by people like the Koch brothers.

Or in extreme cases they are more akin to junk yard dogs who have been tormented and tortured for years who are then released on the unsuspecting public.

[BlueJazz]

4. Yep, your words ring true.

[pampango]

5. "So, what’s different about the United States? One factor is the immensely profitable and

politically influential fossil fuel industry. However, Canada and Australia serve as useful analogues.

With Australian coal reserves and Canadian tar sands, fossil fuels account for a larger share of both countries’ economies. Nevertheless, Båtstrand noted, "The [Republican] party seems to treat climate change as a non-issue ... this appears to be consistent with the U.S. national context as a country with large reserves of coal."

Fossil fuel funds + political polarization = climate denial

The answer may lie in a combination of fossil fuel industry influence, and increasing, record levels of political polarization. As shown by the Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham, the conservative ideology score of House Republicans is the highest it’s been in over 50 years. And as Nate Silver recently noted, "The most conservative Republicans in the House 25 or 30 years ago would be among the most liberal members now."

And it’s clear from the language the Republican Party leaders use that they view climate change not as a scientific or critical risk management issue, but rather as a Democrat issue. Thus, Republican leaders simply can’t accept the need to address climate change, because that would put the on the same side of an issue as Democrats.

With the entire rest of the world in agreement about the need to tackle the threats posed by human-caused climate change, and with a rift forming in the Republican Party over the extreme stance of its leaders on this and other issues, it’s only a matter of time before we see an inevitable shift back towards moderation, realism, and real conservatism in the Republican Party position on climate change.

I can't share the author's optimism that "it is only a matter of time" before the GOP sees the light on climate change. Unless "time" includes 100 years from now when it is way past too late.

[MisterP]

6. that goes for everything: my very conservatively-religious European relatives and acquaintances

just stop and stare when I casually mention that half the country thinks the Earth's 10,000 years old or that being rich is blessed

there's been political fights, bloody on both sides, but Europe's mainstream and Europe's science have never been at loggerheads, while in the US anyone can buy any policy and soon 60% of the country will believe it