Don't Just Cut the NSF. Abolish It!

by Liberty and Power

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times is upset that the National Science Foundation had its 2005 budget cut 2 percent. Here's my take.

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Lisa Marie Casanova - 12/12/2004

As a scientist, all I can say about government funding of the sciences is: LET IT DIE. There's something very sad about watching all this hand-wringing among my fellow scientists about government funding being cut. They don't see anything fundamentally wrong with the fact that they are at the mercy of the shifting political winds, because they can't imagine the world without government funding of the sciences. On top of that, there's an attitude that I would almost describe as snobbish toward the idea of getting people to part with their money voluntarily to fund research. I guess being on the government teat has brought us to the point where scientists think that convincing people to fund ideas without coercion, as is done every single day by businesses, is somehow beneath us. I think it's a great shame that if you really want to do science, government funding is so pervasive it's practically impossible to get away from. I, for, one, don't weep to see it go.

Sheldon Richman - 12/11/2004

Thank you!

Geoffrey Allan Plauche - 12/10/2004

Great article. It's well written and to the point. I sent my philosophy of science professor the link to better expose him to a common libertarian approach to science policy.