Scientsts Being Pushed Out of the GOP

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that GOP representation in the ranks of scientists has dwindled to just 6 percent.

In some ways this is surprising.

The actual positions held by the Right are more reasonable than the left. The reasoning behind most Conservative positions is far stronger than the reasoning behind left wing positions.

So, why is the GOP driving away scientists?

Please note. I am not a member of GOP. The Utah GOP has made it abundantly clear that me and my kind are not welcome in the Republican Party. (I am not Mormon).


I happen to be a computer programmer with an interest in the foundations of mathematics and logic.

I've been called "satan" for holding rationality and the scientific method in high esteem.

Again. I live in Utah. Utah is different. I figured that the wholesale rejection of rationality among the GOP was just the peculiar nature of Utah politics.


The article has me worried. Is the national GOP actively driving out scientists as well?

If so; Is there anyone in the GOP who is concerned about this trend?

My family moved into Utah in 1976. They lived in other states. They would tell me stories of far off lands in which members of the Republican Party were open to engaging in Sound Rational discourse about the US Founders and the foundations of a free society.

I always held this fantasy that there were people on the right who were actively interested in things like the foundations of freedom. If I could just get away from the Utah GOP, I might find people who held reason higher than the social order?

My favorite book is Radical Son by David Horowitz. Mr. Horowitz was a left wing propagandist who realized the inherent irrational nature of his positions and who then found people on the Right who were actively promoting civil discourse and who engaged in rational thought.

Now, I personally have never met anyone on the right who has any interest beyond grubbing power for the partisan cause. But I've only met a few thousand people in my life.

I really love the fantasy that there are people on the right who are interested in rational discourse.

From a hypothetical stand point. If there were people in the GOP who were interested in advancing the cause of liberty, it seems to me that the way to proceed would be to have meetings in which people talked with each other about how to solve the problems of this world with free market principles.

For example, I think it would be highly entertaining for a group of people to sit down and discuss the mathematics of financing health care. The discussion would entail creating mathematical models of health care expenses and include open discourse about different ways to finance care.

I believe that if such a group got together and actually spoke about the mathematics of financing health care the group would be able to find alternatives to the problems created by PPACA.

Again. I admit. The idea of a half dozen people sitting in a room discussing free market approaches to funding health care is a fantasy.

Having accepted the reality that it is impossible to find a full half dozen conservatives (a half dozen is six) with enough interested in preserving liberty to spend an afternoon discussing ways to save freedom, I admit I find myself despairing about all aspects of the freedom movement.

I've despaired about the GOP.

Reading an article claiming that the GOP has driven out all the scientists is just increasing my despair.

The dictionary definition of "Conservative" is one of people who closed to rational discourse. Conservatives might use free market rhetoric to grub power, but then slam the door and lock out the people.

I guess I understand the conservative desire to lock people out. But if Conservatives lock out everyone, then the cause of liberty, which I care about, is lost forever.

If the GOP has locked out everyone interested in pursuing science, then the cause for liberty will be lost for the foreseeable future.