[VladRussian]

>To think that only Tea party members and Christian fundamentalists are the only ones who might not understand or have a problem with the scientific method is absurd. I really doubt your average 20 year old wearing a Che shirt cares any more about the scientific method than your average Tea Partier.

even a 20 years old wearing a Che shirt would see a connection [possibly after several trials] between stepping on a rake and a strange immediate sensation on the forehead and will cease to step on the rake thus manifesting basic grasp of the scientific method. Not so for a Tea Partier - he (or she) will every time think that it is God's will or somebody attacking them and their freedom to step on the rake and the Tea Partier will continue to step on the rake to assert their freedom and will also force others to do so.

[learc83]

I believe that political biases are blinding you to the even distribution of cognitive dissonance--no one political party has a monopoly.

Conservative: "There's no way I'm going to trust those idiots in washington with my healthcare" "I do, however, trust those idiots in washington to fight endless wars, and keep the streets free of the evils of Marijuana"

Liberal: "I don't trust those idiots in Washington. They lied to all of us, so that we would support an unjust war." "I do, however, trust those idiots in Washington to run our healthcare and education"

People on both sides will continue to make decisions without using past experience to attempt to determine the outcome.

[nightski]

Meh, I think it is that people really just don't feel like they have an optimal choice. So they decide based on what matters to them most. Some think healthcare and education are more important, others security and freedom. Either way you can't have it all.