Our federal science policy has inflicted a four-fold crisis on America. The worst of these crises is a crisis of liberty: our laws and regulations now encourage technocrats and radical activists embedded in government service to promote false research to justify illiberal regulatory policy. The other three crises are nearly as grave: our laws and regulations allow universities to overcharge the federal government in its grants; federal grant money imposes discriminatory and illiberal “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies on universities; and our laws permit universities to be culpably complacent about scientific espionage conducted by China and other foreign powers. Our science policy destroys American liberty, wastes taxpayer money, imposes group identity discrimination, and endangers our national security.
American citizens and policymakers must meet these challenges by means of an urgent and comprehensive program to solve this four-fold crisis by comprehensive, coherent reform of American science policy. This ought to be done by federal legislation, both because some needed reforms require legislation and because all needed reforms should be hard-wired into federal policy. Executive orders can substitute for legislation to a certain extent, but it is far easier to reverse an executive order than it is to change a law.
This event features Daren Bakst, the Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment and formerly of the Heritage Foundation where he worked for a decade on issues such as advancing sound science and transparency; John Cardarelli II, the past-President of the Health Physics Society, author of “Overt Scientific Bias and Clandestine Acts by Trusted Scientists: The Flawed Application of the Linear No-Threshold Model," and acting in his personal capacity, he will speak on the search for truth in science behind cancer risk assessment in low-dose environments and the culture of resistance to change in established policies; and Marlo Lewis, Jr., a Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and writer who specializes in the topics of global warming, energy policy, and public policy issues.
Our very own David Randall, research director at NAS, moderates this discussion.
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