First They Came...

This past Monday ushered in a new wave of politics as the Republicans took over the House of Representatives and "my" state.  With this change, funding for science may be facing a rough time as Republicans aim to cut unnecessary government spending.  I'm not against cutting spending, but I'm against this YouCut Citizen Review project. 

A project called the YouCut Citizen Review wants regular citizens to look at grants awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and select those they find to be wasteful.  The website suggests looking for keywords such as "success, culture, media, games, social norm, lawyers, museum, leisure, stimulus, etc."

This bothers me in three ways.  

The first is that how can any regular bloke off the street know and understand the significance of some of the grants awarded by the NSF?  For example, I am not an expert, or even remotely knowledgeable about the fields food packaging, or marketing.  How would I know how to tell a good grant that aims to market fruits to kids versus a bad grant that aims to make kids obese?  That might not be a great example but I hope you get the point.  

The second item is that grants awarded by NSF can have portions covered by industry that may not be readily apparent on their website.  The post doctoral student who sits on the other side of the cubicle wall from me receives half his paycheck from NSF and the other half from my company.  I know my company spent a lot of time (and money) working with NSF to get someone with the right expertise who could work on this project - a project that has the ability to generate millions in revenue for my company (plus tax dollars!) but would someone browsing through the NSF's website understand where all the funding money is coming from?  

My third annoyance with YouCut Citizen Review is that it seems to be targeted towards the soft sciences - fields such as social sciences.  The recommended search keywords are ones that would more commonly appear with projects funded through the NSF's Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences as this article published in New Scientist magazine suggests.  I work in the hard sciences, on an almost daily basis I am trying to save the world and provide millions with access to clean, potable drinking water.  Technically I have nothing to fear if this YouCut Citizen Review is going to stop funding for soft science projects.  But this statement, or poem if you will, from Pastor Martin Niemöller about the refusal to act by German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power in Germany keeps running through my mind.

First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out - 

because I was not a Communist;

Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - 

because I was not a Socialist;

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -

because I was not a Trade Unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -

because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me,

and there was no lone left to speak out for me.

In this case:

First the came for the Soft Scientists, and I did not speak out - 

because I was not a Soft Scientist...

Yes, changes need to be made.  Yes, budgets can be cut for certain areas.  But I would much rather have the people doing the cuts be highly informed intellectuals than my now-evicted-for-breaking-their-lease-and-burning-their-apartment-down neighbor.  

How do you feel about the YouCut Citizen Review?  A good idea or one that should be tossed aside?