No, the Science Is Never 'Settled'

The Science is settled." How many times have you heard that?

Here’s my answer, "No it isn’t."

Science is never settled. And now it’s less so.

In its Golden Age, science got settled in its labs and journals.

Now, in our new Gilded Age, we settle science at the voting booth.

And that makes for one really very bad idea.

There are at least three areas of science that will not be answered the right way; with hypotheses, experimentation and conclusions. Instead, we’ll vote; all of us.

Those three areas are: hydoxychloroquene, global warming and transgender athletics.

It doesn’t matter what the science is. They’re all on the ballot this November.

Let’s start with the most urgent: Hydroxychloroquene, for short. Once upon a time, around last March, President Trump made some preliminary positive comments about "Hydroxy" during a press conference. Apparently, the president became aware of this drug from watching the news.

Immediately the Democratic governors of Nevada and Michigan banned the drug in their state. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York banned the drug in pre-hospital treatments. How can that make sense? Why didn’t these governors ask the leading medical personnel in their states.

This discussion evolved into a long-term testing program that offered results to please and anger everyone. Meanwhile too many people are still dying and, to be sure, on the Hydroxy issue, the science is very far from settled. We should be better than that. But we’re not. If, in November, Joe Biden wins, Hydroxy will be a distant and faint memory.

If president is re-elected the debate will continue, along clear delineated blue and red lines.

I’ve written about global warming before. To me it seems somewhat knowable.

After all, we have all those scientists (a majority agrees) who swear by it and just a few of we "deniers" who offer a meager challenge. It would seem that all we need is for some of those believers to create models that can correctly predict the direction of global temperatures.

Easy, right? Obviously not.

Remember the "Hockey Stick" chart? Neither does anyone else. It was conceived by a "climate scientist," Michael Mann and two other colleagues, then published in a paper.

The Hockey Stick chart got a lot of play at the time, but — eventually — the years caught up to the chart and the model was discredited, in favor of future models that hadn’t yet reached their "good through" dates.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., gave planet Earth 12 years to survive.

My guess is she’ll be running for president one day, just as her fuse runs out.

Does she really want to preside over a fried country?

Well, in a pinch she can always move in with the world’s greatest global warming alarmist; former President Barack Obama.

Obama spent 11 million dollars on an oceanfront estate on Martha’s Vineyard, some of the- most-likely-to-be-underwater real estate on the planet.

So, do we believe his speeches or his checkbook? They’re in conflict.

But make no mistake. If Joe Biden wins in November, a huge chunk of his promised four trillion-dollar tax increase will be directed toward fighting this unsettled scientific threat.

And, finally, the science issue nearest and dearest to my heart--- transgender athletics.

For me, it’s personal.

I have an outstanding track and field student/athlete for a granddaughter.

So, what’s the problem?

On May 17, 2019 every single U.S. House Democrat voted for a bill that lets former males compete against lifelong females.

What could go wrong?

For starters, in states like Connecticut, New Hampshire and Idaho former boys are now record holding girls; knocking out prior champions who made the mistake of being born as girls. Let’s agree on a few things: First, the chromosomes you’re born with are the chromosomes you’ll die with; like it or not.

Second, boys are, on average, bigger and stronger than girls. 

Look how great LeBron James is in the NBA. Imagine what he could do in the WNBA?

Pick a sport. It will be the same everywhere, including at my granddaughter’s track meets.

Is this what we all want? Is this science?

Which brings me full circle. We can argue about drugs, climate and gender.

But the worst way to settle these arguments is at the ballot box.

The ballot box can declare a "winner,"but it cannot declare a "truth."

Sid Dinerstein is a former chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. He founded JBS Associates, a 600-person financial service company, and currently combines politics and business with Niger Innis in Inclusive Elections LLC, a firm that brings urban electorate voters to the GOP. He is the author of "Adults Only: For Those Who Love Their Country More Than Their Party." Read Sid Dinerstein's Reports — More Here.