Thursday, May 10, 2012  Ignorance Wins  The good news is that
ignorance wins just the day but perhaps not in the long run. 
The GOP, on a party line vote, singled out political science
research to be cut from the National Science Foundation. 
Apparently, they think it is better to know less than more. 
That makes sense for a party that can relies heavily on a
shrinking base--rural white people.   Sure, I am being defensive
about my discipline, but regardless of what I study, the fact
that these guys singled out one field for de-funding speaks
volumes about their desire to be held unaccountable.  The job of
political science is to understand politics, right?  Why would a
party want to get in the way of that?  Because it has something
to hide?  The funny thing is that political scientists are not
journalists--we seek to understand the broader patterns and not
the scandal of the day.  However, the broader patterns might
just include the impact of gerrymandering on political
extremism.  Ooops.  This cut may not m