If Gov. Perry is going to challenge gov’t. science, he should enlist the help of Pres. Eisenhower, who warned us about the dangerous collaboration between scientists and politicians in his farewell address. Right after warning the nation about the military/industrial complex, Pres. Eisenhower had this to say about gov’t science:
“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present— and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.”
E-mailgate made clear that Pres. Eisenhower’s warnings about a dangerous collaboration between corrupt Washington politicians and greedy scientists was a very real threat to our nation’s economic future. Naturally, foreign nations like it when we use stupid policies to lock up our own resources so that the energy supplies we import cost more.
Indeed.