Currently it is important to speak and write about Congress and its failure to do basic things like pass a budget, repair its nonsensical cuts to health care subsidies, and defend its authority to budget and not allow Donald Trump to trash any allocation he wants.

Yet, at both the federal and state level, instead legislative attention has drifted toward the non-serious. Sometimes it’s hard to separate genuine legislator stupidity from mere pandering to confused and misled, but nevertheless adamant, constituents. Few things demonstrate this better than the efforts, both in the Tennessee legislature and the U.S. Congress (with help from one Tennessee legislator), to tackle the conspiracy bug-a-boo of chemtrails, sometimes called contrails.

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For decades, conspiracy loons have insisted there is something nefarious going on with the white plumes of water vapor and soot trailing behind jet aircraft. Our legislators now indirectly are giving them an affirming wink and nod.

Take the case of House Bill 2063, passed by our legislature in the last session, and becoming law on July 1. It declared, “The intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited.”

Tennessee’s State Senate and State House passed the item overwhelmingly, 25-6 and 70-22 respectively. Governor Bill Lee quietly signed it in late April. The bill’s supporters officially claim they only are acting to head off solar geoengineering. By that, they are referencing some speculation and computer modeling, largely occurring during the Biden Administration, about the use of high-altitude chemicals to reflect into space some sunlight and lessen the effects of global warming. Environmental and government sources all point out it never got beyond that phase and the Trump Administration is not pursuing it.

Once you shake the can of crazy cola and pop the top, however, you never can tell what will spray out in all directions. Several legislative witnesses testified about the bill citing debunked conspiracy theories or speculating about secret government programs. The House sponsor, Kingston Republican Monty Fritts, assailed the routine practice of cloud seeding during droughts. Senate sponsor Steve Southerland, a Morristown Republican, kept the chemtrails crazy in check during the debate, but wildly speculated about it in a previous interview.

Tennessee is not alone in this curious crusade. Florida’s governor has signed into law similar legislation, and Republicans in nearly 20 other states are pushing the matter. One the federal level, Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett and Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene have introduced the Clear Skies Act. It would craft steep penalties for knowingly conducting weather modification—including cloud seeding and geoengineering. Burchett took to social media to promote Greene’s sponsorship.

Greene, of course, is famous for claiming Democrats were controlling the weather to craft severe storms in Republican-heavy areas, and even speculated about space lasers causing wildfires. Burchett just coyly dismisses criticism of his bill. “If it doesn’t exist, then you don’t have anything to worry about,” he said.

Of course, we do have a lot to worry about--especially if our state and federal legislators are ignoring or disparaging the established existential threat of global climate change, and prefer to noodle about with debunked nonsense about chemtrails or localized efforts like cloud seeding.

Matters get exponentially worse when we learn that our Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is a devotee of several conspiracy theories and has indicated an openness to chemtrails claims. Furthermore, the recent huge bill pushed through Congress by President Trump and his acolytes rolls back initiatives to combat climate change.

Perhaps we need a legislative playroom where folks like Monty Fritts, Steve Southerland, Tim Burchett, and Marjorie Taylor Greene can go to craft all the fanciful legislation they want, everything from Sasquatch citizenship to bans on robots stealing dentures. These pandering legislators should not be in the main room when serious people (let’s find some) apply the scientific method and attempt to solve real problems. The current group could start with crafting a real budget that pays for health care and doesn’t give billionaires yet more tax breaks.