Last year Senate Democrats launched a crusade against independent think tanks including the Cato Institute, Reason Foundation, Heartland Institute, the Hoover Institution, John Locke Foundation, Manhattan Institute and many others. This “web of climate denial,” charged Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrat, casts “a grim shadow over democracy” and a “filthy grip on our political process.” That sort of hysteria mounted a surge this June, when President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, charging that putting U.S. energy reserves under lock and key constitutes “a massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries.” The Nation called the withdrawal “a crime against humanity” and for California governor Jerry Brown it was “insane.”

In these conditions, another attack on independent think tanks could well be in the works and Kari Travis of Carolina Journal provides some guidance. In 2016, the groups on the climate “enemies list” fired off a letter to the senators charging threats to their First Amendment rights and a tyrannical campaign of political retribution. In 2015, Sen. Whitehouse demanded that 107 organizations surrender, count ‘em, 10 years of records. One of the organizations was the John Locke Foundation whose CEO Kory Swanson refused to deliver and fired back: “Once again, members of the U.S. Senate have rejected rational debate and have resorted to bullying and intimidation in their attempt to stifle the message of freedom and limited, constitutional government.”

In 2017, with hysteria mounting, independent think tanks should take a stand on their rights, stick to the facts, and recall the roots of climate change dogma. As Lawrence McQuillan notes, climatologist Stephen Schneider said “we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have,” and also “decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.” Sen. Timothy Worth set out to “ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong.” The climate inquisitors are still riding and everybody should get ready for the next charge.