I was making my daily run of the political cartoons and saw this one and decided to post a screed.



First my disclosures...
I've been a researcher for just over 20 years now. My wife as well. My area is generally microbiology and infectious disease. My research, the research of the dozens of people I collaborate with, the hundreds affiliated with my work place, and the salaries of myself and others is very nearly 100% supported by federal dollars.

The institution I work at is a major non-profit employing somewhere around 1000 people. It receives millions per year from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID). In the area of infectious disease alone we address AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and many others.
*end disclosures*

It astounds and frightens me that a leading Presidential candidate, and increasingly larger segments of our society can be so bassackward and antagonistic toward science and particularly evolution. There is nothing in biology that makes sense without the fundamental truth of evolution. If it weren't for evolution we wouldn't have to worry about antibiotics and flu vaccines. It's a fundamental truth that impacts your daily health.

When we let an anti-science agenda creep into our politics and policy making we impede decades of future advances and innovation. We cripple the fundamentals of a science education that creates tomorrows work force, tomorrows patents, tomorrows drugs. If we become anti-science, we lose our competitive edge against other nations who are aggressively funding science.

How can anyone take the anti-science propaganda that the fundamentalist right is pushing seriously. Can someone explain this to me?

How did we let faith-based ignorance become electable qualities?