City Journal: The Left’s ‘War on Science’

This is from the magazine City Journal about the political left’s war on science:

City Journal contributing editor John Tierney joins John Stossel to talk about the politicization of science and how the dominance of left-wing thinkers in academia and the scientific community impedes progress.

For years, liberals have portrayed themselves as champions of science and maligned conservatives as anti-science. As Tierney points out, though, the Left’s opposition to important advances like genetically modified food and the study of human genetics (among others) has done much more damage than, say, conservative creationists, who have zero impact on scientific funding or decision-making.

From the video transcript:

John Stossel: Have you heard? Certain politicians don’t believe in science!

Rep. Lynn Woolsey: Republicans are showing themselves to be anti-science.

Chris Matthews: Once again, the Republican party looks like it’s the anti-science party.

Stossel: The media say there’s a conservative war on science. But is that true?

John Tierney: The real war on science is the one from the left.

Stossel: For 25 years, John Tierney has written about science for the New York Times. He often questions conventional wisdom, as in this story, which revealed the pointlessness of much recycling.

Tierney: It set a record for hate mail at the New York Times Magazine.

Stossel: Now Tierney writes for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, where he recently argued that the real war on science comes from the left. That seems odd since surveys show people on the right are more likely to believe in creationism.

Tierney: Right, but creationism doesn’t affect science. It doesn’t affect the way science is done.

Stossel: But wait, what about President Bush’s opposition to stem cell research?

George W. Bush: Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical.

Tierney: He didn’t stop stem cell research.

Stossel: It was just the government wouldn’t fund it. The taxpayer wouldn’t have to pay for it.

Read more: City Journal