How Did Politics and Science Become Intertwined?

Politicized science and research did not begin in the United States. It began much earlier. For example, during the Black Plague of the 14th century, politicians together with doctors created a causation for the plague from 1347–1351. It was decided that the plague was caused by contagion and was attributed to public bathhouses, then very popular. Bathhouses everywhere were closed. The consequence was from that time on, for centuries, people were reluctant to take baths, except rarely.

The cause of disease even into the 19th century was said to be caused by “malaise” and this, supported by the government and physicians, implied little care could be given. At the time of the American Revolution, bloodletting was a prescription for fever. It worked by reducing the fever, but unhappily it killed many patients. This was supported by science and the government.

Without giving more examples, let’s fast forward to the 20th century with the development of the atomic bomb. This was co-produced project that involved famous people such as Albert Einstein, President Roosevelt, Robert Oppenheimer, and a cast of hundreds of scientists and military people.

There were conscientious objectors ( Einstein, and other scientists), and great supporters (e.g. Fermi, Bohr, et al.). But the politics swayed the development, together with massive money. Out of this came massive government funding for science projects. Thus, politics entered the door full time.

There have been mixtures of science and politics ever since. For example, the development of the Apollo project (land on the moon) began as a political goal and transferred to a massive enterprise to build it. In addition, huge funding to medicine created an entire infrastructure to cure various diseases. Which were funded was certainly politically influenced. Have you ever heard of an orphan disease? It is a disease that has little funding to cure. This was an intentional decision, partly influenced by politics. When funding agencies are awarded multiple billions to spend, politics is always involved in some way.

Now jump forward to current times, and we see a fusion of politicians and medicine, say with COVID. Here, plans were developed, complete with public announcements, about the new vaccine, including shutdowns, masks, unemployment, and much more. But we were never told the vaccines were not adequately tested.

You could combine this with climate change, promoted by the government and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). I know this is a matter of belief to most, because the details of climate change and predictive modeling are most challenging, even mathematically challenging*. The latest is that some say there’s a climate crisis but some say no crisis. Who’s to say what the final chapter of this project will be? I don’t. But politics and science will be joined at the hip through it all.

Big money brings big politics!

*Challenging, as climate change sweeps across multiple areas of science, including ocean temperature and heat containment, ocean eddies, atmospheric reflectivity, CO2, aerosols, historical data, and even cloud cover.