The Greens, The Reds, and The Feds
It’s no secret that science and politics are often at odds with one another. Even the fundamental concepts can be opposed; a true scientist keeps in mind that, at all times, they could be wrong. Common politicians, however, never let themselves consider the other side.
Science is an exciting field. New discoveries and revelations ensure that a “status quo” never exists. The bleeding edge of science often doesn’t have a large impact, because true science needs to be tested over and over again before it’s accepted, but it does ensure that nothing stays the same.
Politics, on the other hand, is boring. It’s old and bitter and stale, and it’s difficult to find politicans who genuinely will listen to the other side. This we already know. We also know that politicians are often easily bribed into denying science. Just look at the top recipients for oil and gas donations in Congress; they all have horrible voting records with environmental issues.
Unfortunately, most politicians are not scientists. Most are lawyers, or have some background in law. This is great for passing laws, and knowing how the system works, but not great for knowing how Earth’s systems work.
And this is why there will always be a constant struggle between the two.
Let’s look at GMOs. The following situation is fictional, and is used just as an example.
Imagine that, one day, a prominent scientist publishes a paper that says that GMOs can directly lead to cancer. His paper is partially peer-reviewed, and generally accepted within his circles. Outraged, people petition to their government to ban GMOs, which they do, in order to boost popularity ratings.
Then, next month, a smaller scientist publishes a paper that says no, GMOs aren’t leading to cancer, it’s preservatives in the food. The two scientists talk, and the first one realizes that his paper was flawed; he retracts it, and he encourages the scientific community to look at the data.
Over time, this new report becomes the norm. People are fine with GMOs again, and the government uplifts the ban on them. Things are back to the way they were before.
But, wait! A new scientist says that hey, preservatives are causing cancer, but GMOs speed up the cancer process. This scientist is very small and nobody cares about him, and his only ‘science’ background is having a B- in high school chemistry.
All of a sudden, the new controversy with GMOs flares up again, and the government bans it.
You can see here the problem. The scientific community is debating within itself the issues, and the government is taking action on a second’s notice. Most real science takes years and years to decide on and become accepted, but fringe issues can take only days to become national movements.
This is why politics and science will never be able to get along — unless we have more scientists in Congress, or, as Neil DeGrasse Tyson said in an episode of Star Talk, we establish a ‘Department of Science’.
Climate change ties into this very well. Evidence for it has been growing since the 1960s, and rapidly since the 1980s. And yet some politicians choose to listen to people with a GED and no real credibility, who say that, since it was cold today, there’s no such thing as climate change.
The future is not all grim. The traditional image of a politician (if pro and con are opposites, what’s the opposite of progress?) is beginning to erode, thanks to figures like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Science will soon be the enemy to some, and the ally to others.
One of the people it’s going to be an ally for is Jackson Hinkle, who is running for city council in his city of San Celemente. He’s a student, and refuses to accept donations from huge corporations, which means that he’s actually mentally fit to be in public office. I personally believe that people like him in public office will bridge the gap between politics and science.
He personally told me that “Turning our backs to science and instead following ideas rooted in opinion will get us nowhere.”

You can check out (and donate to) his campaign here: https://www.ocstudents4citycouncil.org/hinkle4sc
Other people, like Bernie Sanders, support science in politics. Senator Sanders supports vaccinations, realizes the effects of climate change, is an advocate for increasing NASA’s budget, etc (you can see his stances here: http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-science-and-technology/).
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, a legend in the field of science, is hopeful for the creation of the bridge, as he details here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dohU61DuEaI. He realizes that science in politics is necessary, as are long-term solutions (not ‘band-aids’, as he uses in a metaphor).
Even former presidents, such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have not only expressed an interest in science, but have realized that defunding science is the same as defunding progress.
There have been two sharp retaliations in science and politics in the past two years. One is President Trump basically adopting an anti-science agenda by questioning, and even ridiculing accepted science, and by creating a cabinet that has plenty of anti-science rhetoric coming from it.
The other retaliation is in the 2018 midterms. A record number of scientists are running for Congress, many with the group http://www.314action.org/home/. In fact, 71 scientists are listed on their website, but I’ve heard reports that the grand total outside of this campaign is in the hundreds.
This is wonderful news, in my opinion. Now, some may argue that because these scientists are specialists in one thing, they should not run for office; they don’t have the proper background. But the thing is, most of the people in Congress are lawyers. That’s it. They have a ‘proper background’ in law, but not in science, education, energy, foregin relations, etc. Having scientists in Congress would be great because it would mean we could be back on track with science, but also because our government would be more equipped to deal with issues. I also believe business leaders, doctors, immigrants, etc, should be in Congress — it should truly represent the nation. If we had a government like that, I know that this nation would once again be a world leader.
#BringScienceBack
