Science Party

Yesterday I didn't get a chance to listen to the inaugural address. Instead I read it. Once sentence in this paragraph grabbed my attention:

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.
The sentence that grabbed me was the part about restoring science to its rightful place. Huh? Wasn't science already in a rightful place? How did science get to a wrongful place and who put it there? I was thinking about this yesterday while channel surfing. I came across another Boston Legal ending where Denny Crane and Allen Shore are sitting together outside in their chairs, smoking cigars, and talking. Denny Crane says to Allen shore, "You Democrats - always believing in science." I've said before that Boston Legal had impeccable political timing and now even their reruns are timely. Has science become so politicized that Republicans don't believe it? Is it the Republican party that put science in a wrongful place? I can understand political differences regarding the role of government, the economy, and the free market system but science? Seriously? The very nature of science makes it believable to me. Who can't believe in empirical thought? When I get confused, I google. I googled up this article in the "Environment Magazine." Here is the link: http://www.environmentmagazine.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/September-October%202008/dunlap-full.html

According to this article, up until the 1980's, both parties believe equally in science. Teddy Roosevelt, a president famous for his beliefs in the conservation of nature, was a Republican. Now more Democrats believe in science than Republicans. Ronald Reagan started the split saying environmental concerns were too costly for business. Now the parties are very far apart.

I hope that most of the differing beliefs between our political parties is limited to the science of climate. And I hope that science will be restored to its rightful place.