Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Democrats are Weenies

The Senate Democrats are weenies.  Why?  Because not only did they let the GOP propose an amendment that would cut or restrict NSF funding for political science (and only political science) research, but they let it be a voice vote.  What does that mean?  We do not have a record of who can be blamed for voting with the forces of ignorance. 

The double unaccountability to this: (a) political science research is one way to assess how politicians are doing their jobs [indeed, some of the opponents of Poli Sci research cite exactly those studies that ponder whether politicians represent their constituents] so cutting this undermines accountability; and (b) a voice vote limits our ability to blame individual Senators. 

Brilliant.  Democracy in action.  No wonder Americans have a great deal of contempt for their national legislature.

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