I was totally gob-smacked when I read this Science Mag news item.

Representative Mo Brooks (yes, a US Congressman!) believes that rising sea levels are being caused not by global warming, but by rocks falling into the sea.

The simple application of some common sense, or a bit of trivial mathematics, will tell you that his idea is complete nonsense. The majority of the earth's surface is covered by oceans, and the proportion of the planet's landmass that would need to fall into the ocean to create noticeable sea level rise is truly staggering.

I understand that not everyone understands science, but if you don't, then you should at least have a bit of trust in what scientists tell us. Given that science is not even needed to poke holes in Representative Brooks' ideas, we have to wonder how on earth he managed to get elected. Not only is Mo Brooks arguably stupid, but I wonder about the intelligence of the people who voted him into office; this is probably not the first time that he has publicly humiliated himself in this way, and he has won two elections, so apparently the voters in Alabama don't care that their representative is stupid and ignorant.

After discussing the news story with a friend, I am forced to consider an alternative thesis: that Representative Mo Brooks is actually very clever, in that he understands exactly how much stupidity and ignorance will be tolerated, or even lauded, by his Alabama voters; he knows that the theory about rocks falling into the sea is total nonsense, but is also aware that most of his constituency doesn't see it as nonsense. He is simply playing to the gallery.

This just reinforces my opinion that democracy isn't working, and not only in the USA.