President Purges Bioethics Council of Unbelievers

In a further attempt to shore up his religious conservative base, President Bush fired two members of his bioethics advisory council and replaced them with three new members who were more likely to agree with the policy positions of the President and the council's chairman, Leon Kass. The Washington Post has the story:

Asked why [Elizabeth] Blackburn [a biologist] and [William] May [an ethicist] had been let go, White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said the two members' terms had expired in January, and they were on "holdover status." Asked whether, in fact, all the council members' terms had formally expired in January, she said they had.

Pressed on why Blackburn and May had been singled out for dismissal, she said: "We've decided to go ahead and appoint other individuals with different expertise and experience." She would not elaborate further.
. . . .

Michael Gazzaniga, a Dartmouth neuroscientist who sits on the council, said he was "upset" by Blackburn's ejection.

"She was one of the basic scientists who understood the biology of many of the issues we're talking about," Gazzaniga said. "It will be a loss for sure."

The council studies important issues ranging from human cloning to stem cell research and the use of biotechnology to enhance human beings. In the past several years the council has found it difficult to reach concensus that matches the Administration's preferred positions. Apparently that will no longer be a problem.

I think this undermines any credibility that the President's council on bioethics ever enjoyed.

Incidentally, the President's latest action comes on the heels of a recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists finding that the Administration has regularly manipulated, distorted, and blocked scientific research to further its political aims and that "the scope and scale of the manipulation, suppression and misrepresentation of science by the Bush administration is unprecedented."

The Bush Administration's attitude toward science shows that it treats expertise not as a source of information for good governance but only as an adjunct to securing political advantage and pleasing its constituents. Its treatment of science is of a piece with how it used intelligence in the run up to the Iraq War: listen only to what you want to listen to, and discard or distort the rest. If you don't find information you like from objective sources, find someone with credentials (or without them) who will provide the information you want to hear.

Using propaganda to convince others that your policies are correct is one thing. But listening to your own propaganda to make decisions is a poor strategy for successful government.