Who Makes law?

When searching for interesting talking points about the law-making process, the election season just seems to keep on giving. Recently, Missouri Congressman and senatorial candidate Todd Akin made headlines for famously proclaiming that women who are victims of "legitimate" rape rarely get pregnant. As noted in this post, Akin's ignorance of science is all the more tragic given that he serves on the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Now, it is reveled that Akin's Science Committee colleague, Representative Paul Broun of Georgia, has also chosen to publicly celebrate his disdain for science with these comments:

“I’ve come to understand that all that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell." 

So, once again, we are reminded that the law is made up by people - people who have agendas and ideologies and interests that may or may not be consistent with fact and rationality.  Representative Broun's position is all the more shocking given that outside of Congress, Broun is a physician. And the final irony is that even though he wears his scientific ignorance proudly, he is assured of re-election since he is running unopposed. His obvious deficiency as a steward of public policy apparently elevates his electoral prospects to the point where he is considered unbeatable.

This is the nature of law-making.

Here is the excerpt of his speech, given in front of a wall exhibiting more than a dozen severed torsos of sentient beings.