Debate the Science Policy

Some perspective on the stem cell and global warming issues. "Liberals, time to face the truth." Dennis Byrne:

The setting of government-funded research priorities and the relationship between the public good and science are very much legitimate grounds for reasonable debate. Liberals once fought government funding for nuclear power research and nuclear weapons testing. They evoked moral, ethical and political considerations in the debate. Did that make them anti-science?

Liberals historically have opposed expenditures on space science, including missions to the moon, based on the non-scientific argument that the money would better be spent on helping people "here on Earth." Did that make liberals anti-science?

If government funding is involved, citizens are entirely justified in raising questions about whether it should be a public policy priority.

And when the science itself is not settled, as is often the case, there is all the more reason to engage in debate. That is the intellectually and ethically honest approach--a sound basis for scientific progress.