July 31, 2015

Jeb Bush Says GOP Should Be the Party of Science

Science doesn't belong to Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives - Science belongs to all of us.

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

In politics, science is often presented as a partisan special interest. But the thing is, regardless of which party we support, topics like energy, water, food and climate are going to affect everyone. So I am extremely encouraged to read this from Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's at Bloomberg:

I think as conservatives we should embrace innovation, embrace technology, embrace science. It's the source of a lot more solutions than any government-imposed idea and sometimes I sense that we pull back from the embrace of these things. We shouldn't. We're the party that should be the party of discovery, the party of science, the party of innovation and tear down the barriers so that those things can accelerate in our lives to find solutions for all these things.

I couldn't agree more. On climate change, Jeb adds:

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The climate is changing; I don’t think anybody can argue it’s not. Human activity has contributed to it. I think we have a responsibility to adapt to what the possibilities are without destroying our economy, without hollowing out our industrial core.

There's no question that when it comes to science and technology, the GOP hasn't had a great record recently (like earlier this year when Senator Inhofe embarrassed himself with a snowball in the Senate). But in reality, science doesn't belong to Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives - Science belongs to all of us. Only by working together will we find solutions to the 21st centuries most significant challenges.

As executive director of ScienceDebate and as a registered voter, I certainly hope we hear more about science policy from every presidential candidate. And what's clear right now is that Jeb Bush has set a high bar for his party.

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