Political. . .Scientists? -- Stanek

There was a time, nightmarish as the idea my seem, before the separation of science and state (thank you very much, πth amendment). In the eighteenth century, British polymath Joseph Priestly—perhaps most famous for his contribution to the soda vs. pop wars—found time away from the laboratory to write a treatise on liberal political theory, the Essay on First Principles of Government. The content of it is not important and I will not pretend to have read it. I simply wish to point out the novelty of it: a man of scientific thought and a man of political thought, both grotesquely trapped in the same body.

Today we are doing a much better job of ensuring that the political world is expunged of the offensive presence of scientific facts. In between tirelessly working to expose climate change as a hoax and searching for pristine natural habitats to rape, the former chairman (and current ranking member) of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, James Inhofe, has drawn comparisons between environmentalism and the Third Reich, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Gestapo, and an EPA administrator and Tokyo Rose. On the other hand, Inhofe represents an important data point for scientifically-minded observers wishing to prove that Godwin's Law is the one immutable law in the universe. The current president—a man of unimpeachable integrity, ahem—informs us that biological science is effectively equivalent to religious mythology and both should be offered up to students in science classes as competing “theories.” We have been graciously reminded by a political appointee at NASA headquarters that eighty years of big bang cosmology is merely someone's opinion. We need not even touch upon the unparalleled genius and unrivaled policy efficacy of abstinence-only sexual education. But honorable mention must be made of the former Senate majority leader (and bona fide medical doctor) who suggested that HIV might be spread through tears. I shudder to think of the public health disasters represented by Bambi and Old Yeller.

But like a viral YouTube video, science cannot be entirely kept out, not even by the near-foolproof eyes-shut, ears-plugged strategy. Insidiously and nearly unnoticed, it slips in. Yes, our government is being Rickrolled by science as we speak. The culprits are those noble drones who grease the squeaky wheels of government: the bureaucrats. These are the rank-and-file NASA and EPAers whose paychecks depend on them understanding rather than misunderstanding. Freer of the nefarious demands of ideology than their hand-picked political overlords, bureaucrats are free to do the job no one elected them to do. They are mercenaries in the war between science and politics and it is only through them that one side--Geeks or Hacks--will gain the upper hand. They may well be our last hope that a seamless and functional fusion of the scientific and the political is possible; that the polis will one day be presented with unaltered science with which to make informed decisions about the larger questions facing it. Tearing down the wall between science and politics will require going beyond politicians who let ideology manipulate science, and scientists who denounce the the impurity of politics. The challenge demands someone who transcends both worlds, someone singularly bold and unafraid to bridge the gap: me.

Note: Due to some entertainment and wireless issues, Teshale's response will not be up until tomorrow (Saturday).