One of the oft-encountered talking points offered by the Left is the extent to which the Bush administration has alternatively ignored, intimidated, and done violence to the scientific community. The picture being painted is that of a know-nothing Christian fundamentalist in the thrall of corporate America waging unremitting war against the Enlightenment.

While there is enough truth to this charge to give it legs, the “science” lobby is scarcely blameless. For all the moral and ethical posturing surrounding the sanctity of “the scientific process” and the need to keep the same safe from assaults by power-hungry politicians and ignorant political mob action, climatologist James Hansen’s recent call to literally criminalize disagreement with him about climate change is a more radical assault on the the scientific process and the scientific method than anything forwarded by the Bush administration.

Now, James Hansen would probably argue that he’s not interested in criminalizing disagreement per se; he’s interested in criminalizing dangerous, life-threatening speech that the speaker knows is fraudulent. Perhaps. But exactly what is the nature of this special mind-reading power that allows James Hansen to determine that Rex Tillerson, head of ExxonMobil, believes X but says Y? Is it so beyond the realm of possiblity to think that Rex Tillerson actually believes what he says (pace, say, commentary by our own Pat Michaels on the subject)? Or does James Hansen presume to know Pat Michaels’ true and secret thoughts as well?

To the extent that James Hansen’s views are embraced by the self-appointed gendarmes of science, politicians are right to suspect that climate change alarmism is heavily influenced by the lust for power, the demands of ego, and the pursuit of political agendas that go far beyond a disinterested search for scientific truth. Moreover, one can’t help but wonder about the strength of an argument that requires the threat of force to silence critics.

Call me an idealogue, but criminalizing skepticism about scientific theories is probably not the best way to facilitate the quest for scientific truth.