Since this is looking like science-day at LGF…

I see that Fox News website has yet another Holdren-wants-forced-abortions story… which of course Drudge is pimping.

IMO, this and similar stories are just another manifestation of the culture wars. Beyond the normal us-vs-them political recipe, such stories are used to reinforce the idea of scientists as madmen and academics as against the people.

Unusual for me, yesterday I was listening to talk radio and turned in Jon and Ken (from KFI in LA), whose current project is to change the California constitution to limit the Assembly session to just 3 months a year. Now, that may be a good idea, but their reasoning was quite backwards. They declared they wanted average/normal people to be Assemblymen. To me, that is an idiotic (and self destructive) desire.

What we need are leaders who are not average, but who rise above the fray and pettiness of life and become leaders in their fields. People like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, etc. were not average men. Even the leaders in the history of Congress were not “average”. Local leaders who help their community are not “average”.

One of the (many) problems with culture wars is the existence of those who profit from this war… and they profit by reinforcing in the minds’ of populists the threat that the specialists/professionals pose.

Let’s hope that our culture can overcome these self defeating desires.