Steven Hayward compares environmental groups to battered spouses who keep returning to support Democrats like Obama no matter how often they neglect their agenda when in power. I think that's a little strong. For myself, I don't believe that these groups really care as much about the environment as they just covet power. Marxism has failed, so they've just found another vehicle to ride into their preferred role of telling the rest of us how to live. I don't doubt the zeal of those people down in Louisiana washing the oil fouled creatures, but they aren't the ones funding the environmental movement. Those are the attendees of San Francisco fundraisers for Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer and the Hollywood elite like James Cameron who fancy themselves better than the rest of us, despite their Brobdingnagian carbon footprints. They don't have to worry about gasoline prices, so they support policies that drive them up for everybody.

They support Democrats because Democrats can be relied on to flatter them and promise to advance their causes, if only those evil capitalist Republicans weren't getting in the way. Their enthusiastic support for global warming alarmism wasn't because it had compelling proof behind it. It was based mostly on computer models purporting to predict global average temperatures over 50 to 100 years, with details cherry picked because they supported the theory. But what really attracted them was the opportunity for attacking capitalism. No matter that crippling the U.S. Economy wouldn't prevent India and China from continuing to emit carbon dioxide or that countries producing oil and gas would have far worse environmental and safety records than we do. These aren't dumb people. They just don't care if the theory makes sense. It fits their desired political posture, and that's what really matters.