The problem is (a) Republicans don't care if the issue isn't their own, and (b) Republicans seem to lack the capacity for identifying systemic failures. It's like an object-permanence thing with them. If they can't physically see the thing happening directly with their two eyes, then there is no relation. Like they're blind to negative externalities or indirect side-effects. at the macro level.
In other words... There's a reason these folks don't normally make great engineers or scientists.