Downside of non-scientific leaders

Any politician’s primary concern is re-election. It’s their career at stake. Obviously they’ll be interested in what people want from the government. Of late, people feel the government should be doing a lot of different things, such as providing jobs, protecting citizens, boosting the economy, and preserving the environment. Because a senator answers directly to the people, it’s his job to “get things done” in Washington. They try in many different ways to do this, one of these ways being new science. Senators pride themselves on being forward-thinking people who support technology for the aforementioned reasons. But how do senators support science?

Scientific research needs funding. Even breakthrough technology is often not immediately profitable to the research facility. Because of this, scientists look to the government to give them grants or subsidies their research. They usually bring these requests to a senate committee. Now, being relatively non-scientific individuals, senators must rely on the scientist to tell them how their technology will accomplish these certain goals. As a result, government money often goes to science that will make new industries to provide jobs. It can not only enrich lives, but save them too. In any war, the more technologically advanced side not only wins, but also suffers fewer casualties. The prodigious spending that accompanies the military budget is evidence that the senators don’t wish to be left behind in these areas. In the fine line between supporting industries and protecting the environment, senators again reach for science. For example, cars, plants, appliances all have benefited from technology, and leave a less significant impact on Mother Nature.

The drawback of senators, and non-scientific people in general, is that they often want technology to do things that are not feasible. The electric car is a good example. Physically speaking, it will never be efficient enough to work. However, it such a good idea! Let’s dump more money on research! Also, they have a hard time forking over the money to research that will not “perform”. That an atto-second pulse can be made and harnessed is fantastic news to a micro manufacturing facility. But I doubt if it would even raise a senator’s eyebrow…