Don't Let Facts Get in the Way of a Good Policy

One thing that is consistent about this administration, when they have their mind set on something they will not be distracted by picayune issues like facts. I tend to err on the side of Christie Todd Whitman when she says that the Bush Administration is less interested in the environment than they are in loosening the restrictions on business. The AP is reporting that once again the scientists and wonks are at odds and the scientists are losing.

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The voice of science is being stifled in the Bush administration, with fewer scientists heard in policy discussions and money for research and advanced training being cut, according to panelists at a national science meeting.

Speakers at the national meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science expressed concern Sunday that some scientists in key federal agencies are being ignored or even pressured to change study conclusions that don't support policy positions.

The speakers also said that Bush's proposed 2005 federal budget is slashing spending for basic research and reducing investments in education designed to produce the nation's future scientists.

And there also was concern that increased restrictions and requirements for obtaining visas is diminishing the flow to the U.S. of foreign-born science students who have long been a major part of the American research community.

Rosina Bierbaum, dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, said the Bush administration has cut scientists out of some of the policy-making processes, particularly on environmental issues.

"In previous administrations, scientists were always at the table when regulations were being developed," she said. "Science never had the last voice, but it had a voice."

Issues on global warming, for instance, that achieved a firm scientific consensus in earlier years are now being questioned by Bush policy makers. Proven, widely accepted research is being ignored or disputed, she said.

Government policy papers issued prior to the Bush years moved beyond questioning the validity of global warming science and addressed ways of confronting or dealing with climate change.

Under Bush, said Bierbaum, the questioning of the proven science has become more important than finding ways to cope with climate change.

One result of such actions, said Neal Lane of Rice University, a former director of the National Science Foundation, is that "we don't really have a policy right now to deal with what everybody agrees is a serious problem." "

Undoubtedly I'm going to get some conservatives leaving comments on the sketchy science of global warming. I'm not going to bother stating an opinion on it either way because frankly I haven't done enough research. However, I do know that wonks and bureaucrats whom have inhabited the White House have a dubious history of ignoring scientists when the facts don't jive with the policy du jour.

My personal favorite, because it is a pet subject of mine, is how ignoring the experts let to forming our ever expanding and costly War on Drugs.

According to Clark Brittain in his article, "Failure of Fault Based War on Drugs," "Nixon commissioned conservative republican governors Shafer and Hughes to do a study and officially denounce marijuana once and for all. That commission disappointed the president and recommended among other things, that marijuana should be legal/regulated as is alcohol, and that the only legitimate role for the federal government regarding drug use would be to help identify people who might benefit by getting help. That report was rejected by Nixon, and the war on drugs was initiated with a relatively small budget of about $30 million. Selective prohibition was considered the moral thing to do; it would drive up prices making drugs comparatively unavailable to the average person. By the time Reagan became president the war on drugs took a serious turn. Maryland University basketball star Len Bias died of a cocaine seizure (his friends were afraid to get help for fear of legal culpability) and several dozen crack babies fed the federal frenzy that ratcheted up the war even further. Helping it along was the CIA involvement in cocaine trafficking to help fund the illegal arming of contras in Nicaragua. Illicit drugs became a huge business- because of the black market. It is estimated that the three largest industries in the world today are: oil, arms and illicit drugs."

For those keeping score, the Shafer Commision stated, "A final cost of the possession laws is the disrespect which the laws and their enforcement engender in the young. Our young cannot understand why society chooses to criminalize a behavior with so little visible ill-effect or adverse social impact.. . . And the disrespect for the possession laws fosters a disrespect for all law and the system in general.

On top of all this is the distinct impression among the youth that some police may use the marihuana laws to arrest people they don't like for other reasons, whether it be their politics, their hair style, or their ethnic background. . . 

For all these reasons, we reject the total prohibition approach and its variations."

Yep, the experts recommended legalizing marijuana, Nixon ignored them and started the War on Drugs. The experts are trying to warn GW about global warming and I imagine he'll choose to deal with the situation by declaring war on fossil fuels.