***** Paul Krugman on the Real Reason Reality Doesn't Make the Slightest Dent in the Right-wing Brain... Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s not really a debate in any normal sense. And this situation is by no means unique. Indeed, at this point it’s hard to think of a major policy dispute where facts actually do matter; it’s unshakable dogma, across the board. And the real question is why.... Well, it strikes me that the immovable position in each of these cases is bound up with rejecting any role for government that serves the public interest.... And why this hatred of government in the public interest? Well, the political scientist Corey Robin argues that most self-proclaimed conservatives are actually reactionaries. That is, they’re defenders of traditional hierarchy — the kind of hierarchy that is threatened by any expansion of government, even (or perhaps especially) when that expansion makes the lives of ordinary citizens better and more secure.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/paul-krugman-real-reason-reality-doesnt-make-slightest-dent-right-wing-brain