Decline of Science in Christian Tea Party US

Who is the best known modern scientist?

We might easily think it is Richard Dawkins from all the abuse he gets from Christians in the US. Nearly all US citizens are Christians we are told, but most of them haven’t a clue about their own bible, according to a Pew Poll. So maybe it isn’t surprising that few of them have ever heard of Dawkins either, or any scientist at all! 83 percent of US people cannot correctly name even one modern scientist. 65 percent cannot even think of the name of a living scientist, and 18 percent more try but fail to get it right. Many think Bill Gates and Al Gore are scientists.

It is because so many people are ignorant of science, even though we are surrounded by its benefits, that governments have to finance it. The great god Mammon, aka capitalism, fails to support science because:

1. it is a high cost investment
2. with a high risk of producing nothing certain in a short time, but rather yields commercial results only slowly
3. so overall there is no certainty investment in it will have a sufficiently high rate of return.

Typically, the Right Reds, the Tea Parties, the Republicans, for whom ignorance is bliss, and prejudice heaven, will support research on defense but not medical matters. They hate people being cured except themselves. So why not cut out all government medical research as a wasteful indulgence. Sure, enough, in their “Pledge to America”, they will reduce federal spending on science unless it is for defense. The namby-pamby National Institutes of Health’s budget could drop 9.1 percent to $28.5 billion. Other science agencies, like the National Science Foundation, will suffer similarly.

Meryl Comer and Chris Mooney at PhysOrg.com remind us of philanthropist, Mary Lasker, who used to remark:

If you think research is expensive, try disease!