Something that bothers me is the tendency by some people to improperly entangle two different spheres of activity; science and politics. I get annoyed when people try to link a political theory to the debate on a science question.
Of course the issue most prominent today is Climate Change. It makes no sense to me for someone to say that having a Republican, Democrat, Green, Libertarian or other political theory or position then necessarily indicates a how a person stands on Climate Change questions except to say that any study should be done with openness, transparency and integrity. Climate Change covers may questions ranging from the magnitude and direction of change, the role of human activity, the role of volcanic activity under the Artic, the role of solar activity, ocean chemistry and currents, cloud and rain patterns and so forth. These are topics to be studied by meteorologists, climatologists, physicists, chemists, vulcanologists, geologists and similar disciplines. There is no more a Whig, Tory, Republican, Democrat, Green or Libertarian, etc. position on Climate change than there is a Whig, Tory, Republican, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, etc. position on String Theory.
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