Hitting The Mark On The Wrong Target

Wed, Nov 30, 2022  | 
By John Schroeder

Hitting The Mark On The Wrong Target

A quote from Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address was recently called to my attention:

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

Let that sink in for a minute.  In that address Eisenhower was mostly concerned with what he called the “military-industrial complex;” therefore, addressing weapons science and development.  It would appear we got the message – kinda.  Our defense spending is way down; and current administrative policy intends to take it even lower.  But in its place….

Since being appointed director of NIAID, Anthoy Fauci’s budget has grown from a few hundred million annually to over six billion dollars – a fact he is quite proud of.   His behavior throughout this most recent pandemic would indicate that Eisenhower’s concerns were very well founded and prescient even if the problem is no longer the military-industrial complex which has been replaced by the public health agency-medical industry complex.

But it doesn’t stop there, there is the climate science-big government complex.  Consider:

Despite massive nationwide farmers’ protests almost five months ago, the Dutch government plans to shut down thousands of farms to comply with the European Union’s demands. “The Dutch government plans to buy and close down up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas to comply with EU nature preservation rules,” the British daily Telegraph confirmed on Monday.

But then we know about that here in the US too – just try and mine for coal or drill an oil well and see what happens.

It seems that indeed public policy has grown captive to “a scientific-technological elite.”  Data, it would seem, even poorly analyzed, insufficient data, has replaced prudential judgement, human compassion and simple common sense.  It is as if we think science can answer every question – and yet the pandemic illustrated in harsh and painful terms that science failed to consider economic, cultural and even non-infectious disease medical concerns.  Eisenhower was so right, but we only listened when it suited certain specific aims.

But we don’t want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg either.  The same public health agency-medical industry complex that gave us lockdowns also gave us the vaccines in record time – even if they are somewhat less than advertised.  Eisenhower’s warning was used time-and-again in my youth to demonize the very military that keeps us safe and free, which missed the point altogether and in no small way accounts for the entirely inadequate defense budgets we suffer under today.

The problem is not the complex – it’s the elitism.  Look no further that Fauci’s grossly over preening ego, best illustrated in his last interview with the host, to see where elitism can lead us.

Let’s consider two words

merit – the quality of being particularly good or worthy,

elite – a select group that is superior in terms of ability or quality.

Note how merit does not necessarily set one apart, but elite does.  We need more merit and less elite right now.  In other words, we need humility.  You see humility does not deny merit earned, but it does not permit accomplishment to set one apart.  Humility is not something that comes from data – it comes from developing character and it most frequently comes from failure – and most importantly the admission of failure.  We forget that at our peril.