In legislative deliberations, Congress increasingly rejects scientific findings in favor of persuasive lobbying positions and political dogma.

This behavior is reported in their most recent work, It’s Even Worse than It Looks by American Enterprise Institute’s Norman Ornstein and Brookings’ Thomas Mann, who have impartially studied Congress for decades.

Science starts with a hypothesis, reviews existing knowledge, designs new studies to collect impartial evidence, and draws conclusions reported in unfathomable journals.

Law makers and lobbyists on the other hand lead with their conclusion. They “research” examples to “prove” their case and advocate “findings” as persuasive evidence for action. Their efforts are more easily digestible and distributed via pithy sound bites and social networks.

In other words, scientists work hard to be impartial, while advocates, well, they work.

Turns out legislators are just like the rest of us. They select information to confirm what they already believe. Think “weapons of mass destruction,” of which you’ll recall there were none, for an example of how “cognitive dissonance” and “confirmation bias” present real and present dangers.

Importantly, this differs from the behavior of vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. His widely-rebutted twisting of “facts” in the current election is called lying. However, our eagerness to cling to his untruths in the face of contrary evidence is driven by a need to align our facts with our fictions.

And when our elected leaders disavow evidence in favor of belief—again, think “WMDs”—the consequences can be grim.

Just how should we decide to fight wars, increase or decrease the deficit, go into or get out of debt, raise or lower taxes, or subsidize or deny healthcare for all?

While in the absence of available science we must rely on leadership and our Constitutional principles, wouldn’t we do better when possible to use objective data rather than ideology and dogma?

Recognizing the difference between these alternatives has never been more important.