Sometimes I think they actually do believe that they can create reality, that if they can get enough people to believe the things they fervently believe, it will
make them true, and all "facts" are just opinions.
Like, for example, Cheney's speech to CPAC, where he announced that they'd created a new Treasury office to prove that tax cuts increase revenue, and promised that it would prove that tax cuts increase revenue (to wild applause.)
This idea is patently false, and easily refuted by any reputable economist (meaning any one that doesn't work for the Bush administration or a right-wing think tank.) I used to think that the "tax cuts always pay for themselves" was just for the rubes, so that the elites would have their excuse for the politically unpopular "starve the beast." But apparently the truth is more frightening -- they actually
do believe it, and as with various government scientific panels, they'll keep hunting until they find "experts" who will tell them it's true.
Across the board, this is faith-based government. Not religious faith, but faith in true-believer conservative dogma that has failed every contact with reality. Despite that, the faith is unshakeable, expertise is just opinion, and if they just stay the course and forge ahead, the result they know is right will happen, facts be damned.
It's Tinkerbell government. Clap louder, everyone!