Many have asked what I fear is the worst issue confronting these United States; after reflection and tought, I have concluded a rather unique, but I believe ultimately correct, answer: The politicization of science. Yes, science has become a political minefield, and the results are the catastrophic effects we are seeing today.
To start, the obvious case is the global warming fiasco, the so-called “ClimateGate”. We find scientists have not just hidden their work, they have – in absence of any facts to the contrary – made stuff up. Data is “lost”, but the massaged data is still held! However, the issue is that no one can determine how it was massaged. But we are to just trust these sage academics because of their position. Their influence – including the trillions of dollars of economic change to be spent by the IPCC – is greater than nearly anyone on the earth.
Science is fundamentally about being skeptical. You do NOT trust what you read; rather, you see the data, you see the models, you see the process, then you see if you can replicate the results. If you can, then you have removed your skepticism and science moves forward. When data is hidden, when models are obscured, when skepticism is rediculed, then science broken. And looking at the alignment of those screaming “DENIER” we see that the political left has its hooks deep in the AGW movement. They stand to gain control over the economy – and thus, society – if their non-science (actually, positions held on faith and faith alone are better considered religious in nature) receives acquiescence from the majority.
Science has been subsumed by the politics and financial control offered by climate change, and now answers to the beck and call of those seeking their own pure power and financial gain, rather than what is really the call of most scientists – the pursuit of truth.
Science is also being ignored in the health care debate. We are not listening to doctors, we are listening to the equivalent of the leadership of a doctor’s union (AMA). Decisions over trillions of dollars of spending, the virtual takeover of 16% of the US economy is being done not by those working in the field or even those who use the services and processes experienced by the vast majority of the US populace; on the contrary, Congress, a den filled with lawyers seeking a lifetime of guaranteed benefits and pay, are debating what plan is best for us, when they themselves have benefits so plated it would make any CEO blush.
The lawyers cover themselves with the opinion of a few selected from the science of healthcare, but the coverage is transparent and vaporous. The leadership of the AMA is at odds with the average doctor; the leaders of the AARP are out-of-touch with the average retiree. They stand to personally benefit immensely as trillions of dollars are funneled through their organizations and selected beneficiaries. Yes, the health care industry – an industry founded in science – is now at the hands of the uneducated, non-scientific, and most assuredly purely political. Science has yielded to politics in healthcare.
And perhaps most insidious of all, economics has been politicized. After all, the way to get yourself out of bankruptcy is to spend more (per Vice President Joe Biden). Money can be printed ad-infinitum with no effect, a loss of 200,000 more jobs is clear signs the economy is growing. Nationalizing industries are good for the economy, free markets are bad, capitalism is evil. Economists are characterized as politically left or right, rather than simply right or wrong. Those who espouse the leftist mantra of big Government are held up because of their politics, not because of the accuracy of their positions.
Economics has become topsy-turvy, because those jackals sitting under the hallowed dome of the Congressional building – in league with the ignorant misleader in the Whe House – benefit from the governed not understanding the fundamental truths – that dollars spent now will mean more dollars required in the future, that entrenched organizations will require constant funding, that we will have to pay ever-more for ever-less. And it is because those in power will gain because of it.
So the DC Cabal preaches its double-speak where job losses are good, independence of business is bad, and taxes are patriotic (see Judge Learned Hand’s quote on the front page for the conservative viewpoint). Slavery to the State is freedom, economic destitution is riches. We have lost the common sense that past generations showed by force of political indoctrination. And we suffer because of it.
No, the politicization of science has resulted in a culture of facts become fungible. Motive is held in the highest regard, expected conclusions are now the truth. Data that shows your hypothesis was wrong aren’t an issue, because we can simply ignore that data, regardless of the volume.
Now we have the populace trained to ignore the results of science and simply judge it based upon the intent. And with that we have a populace who will judge the actions of their leaders no on the consequences of those same machinations but the reason they were undertaken (whether honest or not). The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and merrily along we traipse!