Hello and welcome to the political orphanage a show for problem solvers and problem drinkers.

And sometimes, if we're lucky, solver drinkers.

I'm your host Andrew Heaton.

I've been in political media for 2,000 or 3,000 years I think, most of which happened in

2020. To be fair, most of those 2,000 years have been in 2020. But the longer I do this,

the more I think there are two basic approaches people take to politics.

Either problems in government are caused by bad systems and it's our job

to identify faults and correct them, or problems in government are caused by bad people, and the wicked must be driven into the sea.

Much of the problem with current political discourse lies therein.

Being wrong is different than being wicked. Saying something

incorrect is qualitatively different than uttering blasphemy. And I think it's one of

the reasons climate change specifically has become so contentious because we're

increasingly approaching the issue not as scientists, engineers or

economists but as firebrands and preachers for our respective sects.

Let me give you two quick examples.

When I worked on Capitol Hill, I was hanging out in the cafeteria one time talking with some

other staffers. And the topic of global warming came up and I said

something pithy about it like I don't want to have to buy a boat to visit my uncle's farm, some

glib comment, belying my concern about rising sea levels, and one of the other staffers told

me you don't need to worry about the waters rising.

God made a covenant with Noah that he would never again flood the earth so God won't let the ice

get hot enough to raise sea levels which I found very frustrating because here was

...