Darksyde announced this yesterday, but it seems worth some additional attention. There is a brewing movement for a presidential science debate. You can support the call at this website: Sciencedebate2008
Science Debate 2008 is a grassroots initiative spearheaded by a growing number of scientists and other concerned citizens. The signatories to our "Call for a Presidential Debate on Science & Technology" include Nobel laureates and other leading scientists, presidents of universities, congresspersons of both major political parties, business leaders, religious leaders, former presidential science advisors, the editors of America's major science journals, writers, and the current and several past presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among many others.
This year there are an astonishing number of top political issues with major science components. The science debate website identifies these three major topic areas: The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy.
It should be easy to agree that the major political divide on all of these issues is not among our democrats but between democrats and republicans. In addition to supporting the call for a science debate, we can also take this opportunity to highlight our democratic candidate's strengths on these issues.
For each of the top three candidates, I have pulled some excerpts from their issues pages on their respective "innovation" agendas. Please use the comments to fill in more details on how our democrats will improve science policy.
From Obama
Technology and Innovation Plan
Barack Obama's comprehensive technology and innovation plan will:
* Ensure the full and free exchange of information among Americans through an open Internet and diverse media outlets.
* Create a transparent and connected democracy.
* Encourage the deployment of a modern communications infrastructure.
* Employ technology and innovation to solve our nation's most pressing problems, including reducing the costs of health care, encouraging the development of new clean energy sources, and improving public safety.
* Improve America's competitiveness.
From Edwards
An Agenda to Promote Innovation
- Supporting American Ingenuity: The most important factor for America's future prosperity is investment in education, science, technology and innovation. As president, Edwards will make the Research and Experimentation tax credit permanent. The credit has expired or nearly expired 11 times in the last 25 years, discouraging companies from making long-term commitments to research. Ideological debates at NIH about things like stem cell technology have drained resources from promising research. Edwards will increase spending on basic research at the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health and lift stifling research restrictions. He will also modernize our patent laws — which haven't been updated in 50 years — to provide incentives for research.
- Building the New Energy Economy and 1 Million New Jobs
- Restoring America's Leadership in Science and Math Education
* Improving Our Schools
* Expanding College Opportunity
- Building a Universal, Affordable Internet
- Guaranteeing True Universal Health Care
- Respecting Science: John Edwards believes that policy should be science driven, and that science shouldn't be politics driven. He will make sure that government professionals charged with the collection and analysis of scientific data — from medical research to mercury emissions — are insulated from political influence. As president, he will:
* Eliminate political litmus tests for government scientists.
* Protect the integrity of government science by prohibiting political appointees from overriding agencies' scientific findings unless the chief White House science advisor concludes they are erroneous.
* Reverse the demotion of the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and restore the office to a central role as an assistant to the president, a rank held in previous administrations.
From Clinton
Innovation Agenda
1. Establish a $50-billion Strategic Energy Fund.
2. Increase the basic research budgets 50% over 10 years at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the Defense Department.
* Increase research focus on the physical sciences and engineering.
* Require that federal research agencies set aside at least 8% of their research budgets for discretionary funding of high-risk research.
* Ensure that e-science initiatives are adequately funded.
* Boost support for multidisciplinary research
3. Increase the NIH budget by 50% over 5 years and aim to double it over 10 years.
* Increase investment in the non-health applications of biotechnology
4. Direct the federal agencies to award prizes in order to accomplish specific innovation goals.
5. Triple the number of NSF fellowships and increase the size of each award by 33 percent.
6. Support initiatives to bring more women and minorities into the math, science, and engineering professions.
7. Support initiatives to establish leadership in broadband.
8. Overhaul the R&E tax credit to make the U.S. a more attractive location for high-paying jobs.
9. Restore integrity to science policy.