THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 199, October 15, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
"OPEN ACCESS," OR COVERT PROPAGANDA?
By Alan Caruba
POLITICIZED SCIENCE & ITS DANGER: HOW LEFTWING LIBERALS, STATISTS, SOCIALISTS, & POLITICAL
ENVIRONMENTALISTS EXPLOIT & DISTORT "SCIENTIFIC" RESEARCH TO DISSEMINATE PROPAGANDA PROMOTING THEIR
RADICAL POLITICAL & SOCIAL AGENDAS -- HOW THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATES IN THE POLITICIZING
OF SCIENCE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE LIBERAL, STATIST, & RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST OBJECTIVES -- HOW THE PROPOSED
FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS ACT OF 2006 WOULD FURTHER THE POLITICIZING OF SCIENCE
FULL STORY:
In his book, State of Fear, author Michael Crichton appended an opinion entitled “Why Politicized Science is
Dangerous,” and cautioned against, “a social program masquerading as a scientific one,” citing the widespread eugenics
movement in the early part of the last century. (To read "Why Politicized Science Is Dangerous,"
Click Here.)
“A second example of politicized science is quite different in character,” warned Crichton. “It exemplifies the hazard of
government ideology controlling the work of science, and of uncritical media promoting false concepts.” Just as eugenics
drew praise and support from politicians, academicians, and media in its time, so too has the manufactured crisis of global
warming today.
This politicizing of science can be found in the way the United States government spends billions to fund various research
programs. One example is the $40 billion spent by the U.S. Global Change Research Program since 1990. For that kind of
money, one would think something conclusive has been ascertained about “global warming,” but, if its recent report is any
indication, the answer is no.
Another egregious example can be found in the Environmental Protection Agency, which, over the past decade, has made
grants to more than 2,200 nonprofit groups. An Associated Press article by Rita Beamish in December, 2005, noted
that those grants often went to groups “that lobby and sometimes sue the agency.”
Multiply this by all manner of government agencies concerned with energy, education, health care and other issues, and by
countless advocacy organizations and individuals receiving billions in taxpayer funding.
What emerges is research that often reflects the outcome of whatever cause or theory government bureaucrats are advancing.
Some of this research is published in peer-reviewed scientific and academic journals, and, while some good science is
achieved, there is no way of knowing how much government-funded research exists to advance various social and political
agendas.
Amid these problems, we now have a new piece of legislation called the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (S. 2695),
which was introduced last May. The bill would mandate that “federal agencies develop public access policies relating to
research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency.”
The Act would further require original research papers that “have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals
and result from research supported, in whole or in part, from funding by the federal government” be available to anyone with
access to the Internet.
We paid for it, so why shouldn’t We the People have access to it? The problem is that We the People don’t get to decide
what gets researched and what doesn’t. Furthermore, We the People rarely have the scientific training and knowledge to
grasp the implications of such research. That’s why serious journals, at considerable expense, publish peer-reviewed studies
for their peers rather than Joe Sixpack.
Moreover, hardly a day goes by when a headline screams from the pages of some newspaper that some study has
concluded that the Earth is doomed or everything you breathe, eat, or drink will kill you. The public has been bombarded for
years with bad reporting about bad scientific research, a trend “open access” would only compound.
This innocent sounding bill might better be called “The Advancement of Junk Science Act of 2006.”
All the government-funded studies, whether having merit or redolent with hidden agendas, would be available to become a
platform by which various social agendas would be advanced.
Nothing truly impedes anyone from access to published research studies; it’s available for those who want to read it.
“Open access,” however, is an invitation for more clueless journalism and covert advocacy.
This bill literally forces publishers of medical, scientific, and scholarly journals -- which invest hundreds of millions of dollars
each year in their publications -- to give away their work. There is something inherently wrong in that. The Open Access bill
is, in this respect, an unconstitutional “taking” of intellectual property by the federal government.
So, what starts out appearing to be a reasonable mandate, based on federal funding, turns out to be bad news for everyone;
from those doing the research to those publishing the research. Ultimately, the unskilled consumers of “open access” could
also be at risk, inasmuch as they are unaware of whether the material they’re reading has any real merit.
Another way to further debase the process that supports questionable science is to create “alternative journals.” It should
come as little surprise that Liberal Leftist financier George Soros, through his Open Society Institute, is a big fan of “open
access” and alternative journals.
In 2002, Soros gave $3 million dollars to the Budapest Open Access Initiative, one of whose objectives is to “assist in the
establishment of alternative journals that are committed to offering free and unrestricted online access to published articles.”
Open access to bogus research could result in the easy dissemination of the social control agenda behind global warming
and other “theories.”
A government that commits boneheaded mistakes every day should not be in the business of requiring what research
should be openly available while it competes against private research that may well be of far superior merit.
An email, letter, or call to your Senator might be a good idea before S. 2695 becomes law.
For very good reasons, medical, scientific, and scholarly journals are intended to be read by those in the communities they
serve, not the general public.
This system has worked for a very long time to winnow out ultimately bad or junk science and should be left alone to
continue that process.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Science, Ethics, & Human Health
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2006
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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