Ronald Bailey provides the evidence in support of David’s claim that government science inevitably becomes political science. In addition to some of the examples Bailey cites, some other examples of Democrats politicizing science include: then-Senator Al Gore threatening a witness at a hearing with the termination of federal support for the research institute at which the testifying scientist was based because he did not like the gist of the testimony and the Clinton White House delaying an agency report on wetland losses for months because the numbers were insufficiently apocalyptic. The point is not that Democrats are any worse than Republicans on this score. Rather, as David suggests, when government decisions rest on scientific determinations, and government agencies are overseeing the science, it is inevitable that such scientific determinations will become politicized to some degree.
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