This will be a quick post, mainly pointing up a couple of pieces at New Scientist which should have everyone on alert if you want government actions based on our best understanding of the Real World - versus Denialist ideology.
David Shiga looking ahead sees that Battle Looms Over U.S. Science Funding.
As Republicans take control of the US House of Representatives, science could take a hit – despite a new Congressional measure to boost funding.
"There's going to be a big fight," says Michael Lubell of the American Physical Society in Washington DC. "The question is who blinks first."
Peter Aldhous strategizes with Winning Over the Republicans.
It was a case of engaging the Republican party on its own pro-business agenda.
Both articles are short, so no excuses for not reading them. While Shiga and Aldhous are making a guess here, odds are Science is in for short shrift with incoming House Tea Party newbies calling for government spending cuts of $100 billion for starters, and maybe a total shut down of government. Defense is untouchable, of course, as is anything that shovels money into red states. Repealing Health Care Reform and gutting Social Security won't be enough for these types. They're going to go after those darn Democratic scientists.
In an increasingly polarised society, those who are seen as partisan can expect payback when the balance of power shifts. For scientists, alarm bells should be ringing on this point. As Daniel Sarewitz of Arizona State University, writing in on the online magazine Slate, put it recently: "Most scientists in this country are Democrats. That's a problem."
Um, from my point of view the problem is more you can't be a Republican these days while doing good science.
Science keeps coming up with inconvenient truths, like climate change, evolution, and so on. For Conservatives the latest bad news from Science is a recent summary of decades of epidemiological research by Wilkinson and Pickett which seems to show pretty clearly that Conservative ideology which has led to the greatest concentration of wealth in generations is bad for everyone, from the top on down. Conversely, Progressive policies have a lot of Science-based evidence they not only work, they can work more effectively and more cheaply if we really start going after inequality.
The Conservative response to evidence that conflicts with their world view is to deny it, distort it, disparage it, and bury it if at all possible. They have an entire media machine to do that, and a whole network of 'think tanks' to put out propaganda. Plus, they have plenty of troops to carry out their campaign. Two recent diaries at Kos detailed astroturf campaigns with paid trolls engaged in disinformation efforts.
I've gotten caught up in a brush fire skirmish with this very thing. Wilkinson & Pickett's The Spirit Level was apparently so threatening, a conservative think tank in England apparently commissioned someone to write a book specifically to discredit it. (The title tells you where the book is coming from all by itself.) The Amazon web site has only 3 reviews, one positive and 2 negative. (Disclaimer - I wrote one of the negative reviews.) Until recently, the two negative reviews had the highest 'most helpful' ratings. Conservative trolls discovered this, and have been busy freeping the review ratings ever since to put the single positive review way up while trying to sink the negative reviews.
Why do conservatives respond badly to Science? Aside from the huge financial incentives and the irrational beliefs they have to support regardless of the facts, there's one other thing that really bothers them. Most Conservatives are control freaks - they either wish to exert authoritarian dominance over the universe, and/or be 'protected' from a universe they don't understand and fear. An opinion piece at The Scientist by Douglas R. Green happens to make a point that bears on this: the Universe Doesn't Care.
Thing #1. You Are Not in Control of the Answers
This is one of the greatest sources of stress in our professional lives. We know from wretched experience that most of what we try doesn't work, and this stresses us out.
There is a reason for this: Life is not logical, because living things are not designed. Any biological system is a cobbled-together affair that once upon a time happened to work better than some other contraption, so that it was reproduced and subsequently built upon. And therefore our utterly logical experiments fail.
So here's the thing: Control what you can control. Test and optimize every reagent each time you buy it, test your cells, do small pilots, make sure that if it can work, it will. And keep records so you can do it again.
People who believe they already have all the answers, have always had the answers, that God has a special plan for them, and everyone else is just plain wrong - those people have a real problem dealing with all of that.
Aldhous does offer up some advice.
Are scientists elitist egghead liberals? Or are they paragons of fiscal responsibility who are struggling to promote national prosperity? If researchers sit back and rely on old-style lobbyists and the Democrats who still control the Senate to fight their corner, don't be surprised if the former narrative becomes Republican orthodoxy.
SNIP
.... members of Congress know the top lawyers in their districts, the leading small business owners, and so on. And they see them as key players in the constituency they've been elected to serve. In this Congress, more than ever, scientists will need to ensure that they are part of this picture, too.
There is no guarantee of success from this strategy – but to continue to castigate Republicans from the sidelines as inherently "anti-science" holds nothing but a promise of pain.
Personally, I have to disagree with Aldhous on his last point. We can't castigate Republicans as Anti-Science from the sidelines; we have to be up-front when they are Wrong on Science. Fair and Balanced "On the One Hand But On The Other Hand" temporizing won't cut it. We're going to have to be firm, knowledgable, determined, courteous, but insistent. The Universe doesn't give a damn about bipartisanship. When Republicans hear something that conflicts with what they want, facts be damned! The trick is finding facts they can't ignore or shout down, arguments that hit them where they live.
Here's a sample. Say you have congress critters who absolutely deny the climate is changing, or that humans have anything to do with it. Ask them if they are aware of how local insurance companies are changing rates for various kinds of weather and flood events. Ask them if farmers in their district are having trouble getting crop insurance or water allowances if they irrigate. Ask them how the local governments in their districts are modifying disaster planning, and what resources they need. Ask them what kind of studies they think they need to figure out the best ways to cope.
The next two years are going to be interesting...
UPDATE: Rescued! Thanks - and for those who missed this earlier today, enjoy and feel free to comment. Finding a way to keep Science from being cast into the wilderness is vital. Those interested in an organized effort can look here, at Scientists & Engineers for America.