What Have We Become? (The Collapse of the Big Tent)

What have we become? Do we like what we see when we look in the mirror, America? Why don't we like what we see? Our guest blogger takes a look at the history behind why our country hates looking in the mirror nowadays. Perhaps there's a way out of this collapsing big tent?

The Collapse of the Big Tent

by Coast Watcher

The term big tent, first used in 1975 refers to “a widely inclusive composition or character that allows people of differing backgrounds, opinions, and interests to be members of a group or organization (such as a political party).” (Source: Merriam-Webster)

The Democratic Party is fond of using the term. Although it may stem from 1975, the concept of an all-inclusive party harks back to the glory days of the 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

After the disastrous Republican administrations of the 1920s, feelings ran strong against the selfish, greedy, generally corrupt or plain inept mainstream parties. The Republican government caused the Wall Street Crash of 1929 following years of corrupt practices which led to economic depression, mass unemployment and penury for millions of Americans. The Democrats were still viewed with suspicion after Woodrow Wilson broke his solemn promise not to involve the United States in WWI. All told, the burgeoning Socialist movement that had made great strides in the United States during the first three decades of the twentieth century promised a better way of doing things.

This frankly terrified the patrician class and Big Businessmen such as the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts who could see the prospect of a Soviet-style revolution on the horizon if they didn’t act quickly enough.

Roosevelt’s canny promise and shaping of a New Deal coalition united various

unions, minorities, left-leaning voting blocs and interest groups that effectively made the Democratic Party the majority party for thirty years. Even the brief interregnum of Eisenhower’s presidency doesn’t count against this record since Eisenhower himself was pro-New Deal. The coalition effectively channeled the Socialist movement into a safer, more manageable course. What most people seem to forget is the fact that Roosevelt, although a progressive by the standards of his time, was also a patrician–one of those with the most to lose in the event of a Socialist government taking power.

The New Deal coalition began to fall apart in 1968 due to bitter factionalism engendered by the election of that year. Following Carter’s troubled single term in office, Reagan’s presidency took more steam out of the Democratic Party’s engine.

In the 1980s, after a period of navel-gazing spent during their time in the political wilderness, the Democratic Party decided it liked the old adage "if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em" –only they went a step further. The party motto became "if you can’t beat ‘em, become like ‘em." The neoliberal Third Way policies eventually bore fruit in Clinton’s two terms in office, a presidency that showed few progressive values.

The same applies to the Obama administration. Although he put forward a piece of legislation of genuine use to the American people in the shape of the Affordable Care Act, Obama did little to force it through against the reactionary Republicans. He allowed the GOP to include the clause requiring citizens to buy health insurance or face a fine, something introduced with the specific intent of making the ACA toxic to the American voter. (The GOP knew they could rely on the typical short memory of voters to forget they were responsible for the clause, so a future Republican government could repeal the hated piece of legislation – and gain kudos for doing so). Obama also failed to introduce much else in the way of progressive policies beyond a few token environmental protections.

Democratic talk of a big tent was becoming alarmingly familiar as the party dealt with what amounted to a case of “values” shock—the post-election impression that Democrats keep losing because they have lost touch with mainstream American values.  Peter J. Boyer, New Yorker, November 14, 2005

Thrilled as they may still be with their victory, many Democrats are now realizing that … their future depends on a tricky proposition: actually becoming the centrist, big-tent party they've spent two years claiming to be.  Jonathan Darman, et al., Newsweek, November 20, 2006

We have big arguments within the party because we got a big tent…    Barack Obama, quoted in Rolling Stone, October 14, 2010

So, it seems the Democratic Party persists in claiming it has a big tent capable of including many other political-Left viewpoints, but it’s manifestly obvious the DNC is doing little, if anything, to prove it. They actually are the centrist, big-tent party steered by a neoliberal faction. The Democrats recently removed all the progressives on DNC committees. We see their frequent attempts to promote candidates for the 2020 election they think will be acceptable to progressives, yet even a cursory analysis exposes the candidates’ deep corporate neoliberal ties. The New Deal coalition remains the model that party activists seek to replicate, yet the neoliberal faction wants to retain the total control over the course such a coalition will steer as it has done for the past

thirty-plus years.

It’s now obvious the big tent has rotted and is falling over. The three-ring-circus show that is the Democratic Party is winding down as the acts fall out with the neoliberal management and each other. The left-leaning groups, the progressives, even stalwart Democrats who’ve supported their party through thick and thin for decades, are leaving the show. They see little – if any – difference to the rival show put on by the GOP.

There are some, like Senator Bernie Sanders, who think the big tent may be saved. They cling to the idea of a New Deal coalition and seek to replicate the successes of the original. Perhaps they may succeed, but it looks increasingly likely that the coalition will never reform. Few on the political Left want anything to do with the Democrats after what transpired during the 2016 primaries. Perhaps another coalition of the Left will form without the Democrats, and the steady progress toward a Socialist state on the Scandinavian pattern that was interrupted in the 1930s will resume. The Democratic Party’s big tent will be allowed to fall down, leaving only ghostly applause for what once was.

 
Jimmy Dore points out the how the big tent is fighting against progressives.
https://youtu.be/ynug4CLOTp0

BIO: Coast Watcher studies American history and tries to spot the good patterns repeating themselves, but he's a realist. He's hoping America will turn around and make a future to believe in soon.

***

The first national health care town hall (over 1 million views and counting) was not broadcast by mainstream media but on three digital outlets. Here's the video in case you missed it or want to share it with a friend. Lots of good information.

 ***

From Friends of the Earth:

Tell your Senators: Kick Clovis out of the USDA!

Good news! Michael Dourson -- a Monsanto hack -- just stepped down from his job at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Last year, Donald Trump nominated Dourson to run the Office of Chemical Safety Prevention and Pollution. Pressure from people like you forced Dourson to withdraw his nomination. But EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt hired him as a senior advisor anyway. Now, months later, he’s leaving that position.

But Dourson wasn’t the only failed Trump nominee to be given a job in the Trump administration. Sam Clovis -- a conservative talk radio host with no scientific background -- is currently serving as a senior advisor at the USDA. Clovis was forced to withdraw his nomination to lead the agency’s science program in November.

This is the second time Trump has gone around the nomination process and given his Big Ag friends jobs that they’re completely unqualified for. Congress could hold Trump accountable -- but we need your help to push it to act!
Tell your Senators: Stop Trump from filling his government with Big Ag cronies!

Clovis says the science on climate change is “junk science” and has made it clear that he will not prioritize climate science at the USDA. But farmers and the agriculture industry are on the front lines of both the effects and causes of climate change. We need science-based leadership to help farmers respond to climate threats.

What’s more, Clovis has a well-documented record of homophobic, racist, misogynistic and anti-science rants as a former radio show host. He called progressives “race traders and race traitors." He’s vocally against fair wages for working people. And he vehemently opposes civil rights protections for the LGBT community.

This is someone who shouldn’t be in any sort of leadership position -- let alone serving as a key advisor on federal programs to protect our food system! Trump likely gave him the job as a reward for his role on his campaign.
Tell your Senators: Kick Sam Clovis out of the USDA!

Thanks to a groundswell of public pressure -- including more than half a million comments from Friends of the Earth members like you -- we stopped Clovis from getting a Senate-confirmed job at the USDA.

This shows that when you speak up, you can push the Senate to act and hold the Trump administration accountable.

We can’t let Trump undermine our critical food programs by staffing his government with anti-science extremists. We need your help to get Sam Clovis out of the USDA once and for all.

Tell Congress: No anti-science extremists leading key USDA programs!

Standing with you,
Lisa Archer,
Food and technology program director,
Friends of the Earth


Also from Friends of the Earth:

Big Ag and the Trump administration are attacking organic farming.
In an outrageous assault on organic agriculture, Trump’s USDA is moving fast to kill protections for livestock on organic farms.

This attempt to roll back the standard is the biggest attack on organic agriculture in almost twenty years.  

Congress could step up and stop the USDA’s attack on organic standards. But we need your help to push it to act!

Call now! Tell your Senators you OPPOSE the USDA’s attempt to kill the organic animal welfare rule!

The Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule provides animals on organic farms with real outdoor access, ample space to move around, and protection from unnecessary physical alterations. 

Most organic farmers already meet these standards. The rule would ensure that everyone using the organic label lives up to the humane conditions that consumers expect from organic. The rule is overwhelmingly supported by organic farmers, consumers, and animal advocates.

Tell your Senators: Don’t let the USDA eliminate protections for organic livestock!

The organic label was born out of a public outcry for a healthier, safer and more transparent food system. The Senate needs to hear loud and clear that the American people want healthy, organic food from animals who were treated with dignity and respect -- not more giveaways to Big Ag.

Call your Senators and ask them to stop Trump’s attack on organic agriculture!

Standing with you,
Dr. Kendra Klein,
Staff Scientist,
Friends of the Earth

***

From the Sierra Club:

We can't let this happen on our watch.

This month, the Trump administration proposed opening 90% of US waters to offshore drilling between 2019 and 2024. That's right -- if this plan becomes law, the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Eastern Gulf coasts will all be in the hands of Big Oil. That means oil rigs from Maine to Louisiana, and from Alaska down to California. 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is collecting comments on this catastrophic new five-year plan. We have until March 9 to tell them how unpopular and short-sighted this plan is.
 
While they attempt to hand our coasts over to oil companies, Trump and his buddies are also rushing to dismantle safety regulations that were enacted after the Deepwater Horizon spill.¹ And on New Year's Day, Congress also failed to renew a longstanding oil tax that funds cleanup efforts for oil spills.²
It almost sounds too sinister to be true -- they want to open 90% of our coasts to drilling but won't enforce basic safety standards or fund programs to clean up the inevitable spills. 

Tell BOEM that the people have spoken -- no drilling off our coasts!
 
Thanks for all you do to protect our coasts,
Lena Moffitt
Senior Director, Our Wild America Campaign
Sierra Club 

1. Eilperin, Juliet and Grandoni, Dino. "Trump administration to overhaul safety-monitoring rules for offshore drilling" The Washington Post. 12/28/18.
2. Eilperin, Juliet and Grandoni, Dino. "Without fanfare, oil companies just received a tax break on New Year's Day" The Washington Post. 1/5/18.

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Before you keep reading: This one is sickening.

Okay. Ready for this?

The Pentagon funded forces engaged in child sexual assault and other “gross violations of human rights” in Afghanistan — to the tune of 71 billion dollars.
Appalling doesn’t begin to describe it. But in the deafening chaos of the Trump era, even a story as awful as this might slip through the cracks if we don’t speak up. So it’s up to us make this story huge.

Tell Congress: Immediately halt appropriations to Afghan security forces until the Pentagon proves that no American tax dollars will fund human rights violations.

But wait — it gets worse. The Pentagon knew, this whole time. They also knew that a highly specific law prohibits exactly this situation: Congress has made it illegal for the Department of Defense to assist foreign security forces if they have credible evidence that human rights are being violated. But instead of stepping in, the Pentagon dug up a shady legal loophole to dodge accountability and claim they are in the clear.

Let that one sink in for a minute. The Pentagon’s response to clear evidence of human rights violations was: How can we cover our behinds?

The muck and mire of America’s failed war in Afghanistan just keep getting deeper. And it's clear that the Pentagon isn't about to solve their own fiasco. But Congress created the watchdog agency that dug up this story, and Congress passed the laws that should make this behavior 100% illegal. Now, we need to make Congress shut the loophole and shut down American support for these human rights abuses. 

Sign now: Congress must not send another penny to Afghan security forces while these gross human rights violations continue.

Thank you for working for peace,
Cassandra, Stephen, Amy, and the Win Without War team

***

Happy birthday in Palestinian Arabic is “kul sana wa inti salmeh,” which literally translates something like, “May you be safe this year and every year.” 
We’re hoping Ahed Tamimi’s next year, and every year after, is safer than this one. Her birthday is January 31st, and this year, her 17th, she’ll be celebrating it in prison. 

Click here to send Ahed a message of support and solidarity on her birthday.

Ahed’s story of slapping an armed soldier after the IDF tried to enter her family’s home on December 15 is but one small incident during an entire young life controlled by military occupation. 

Earlier that day, a soldier shot Ahed’s 14-year-old cousin Mohammed in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet, which required risky surgery to remove. Three years ago, soldiers shot her mother Nariman in the leg. Two years before that, soldiers shot and killed her uncle Rushdi. The year before that it was another cousin, Mustafa, who died from a high-velocity tear gas canister to the face point-blank. This is an incomplete list.

So who is on trial? Ahed. A young girl the same age as my daughter, who is sitting behind bars facing a sentence of 10 years for defending herself and her family. 

Let her know that you won’t let Israel put yet another child behind bars and make her disappear. That you’ll be thinking about her on Wednesday— and next week when her trial begins.

Send Ahed a birthday card that honors her life and her brave act of resistance.

 "Kul sana wa inti salmeh ya Ahed!
Sending you love and solidarity on your 17th birthday, Ahed.
We stand with you and with all Palestinian prisoners.
Thank you for your bravery and steadfastness, and happy birthday!"

Ahed isn’t the first child to be locked up in Israeli military detention and she won’t be the last—until we pressure Israel to change. 

By standing up for Ahed, we are standing up for the approximately 350 reported children currently in Israel’s military detention— for the approximately 700 Palestinian children Israel arrests and prosecutes every year. Ahed herself, when she had a chance to talk with her father, told him “to make a campaign for all the women and children in prison.”

Ahed, her family, and all the nonviolent resisters in her village of Nabi Salih, are heroes in my book. They endure tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, home invasions, arrests, and tragedy after tragedy. 

To ensure a safer year— a safer world— for Ahed and all Palestinian children, we must continue to work towards ending these many decades of military occupation. And we will continue to push for the legislation introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum, the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Detention of Palestinian Children Act, to prevent the use of U.S. tax dollars for the Israeli military’s ongoing mistreatment of Palestinian children. 

Today, please join me in saluting Ahed and wishing her a happy birthday, and a safer, happier, more peaceful future.
I know it’s getting closer.

Granate
Communications Strategist

 

"Regressive Progressives"

photo by Wendy A.

Did you March Against Monsanto this past weekend? We did--and got caught in a rainstorm--but we made our voices heard nonetheless. Our planet can't take much more poisoning at the hands of agri-chemical conglomerates. Recent studies have shown Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller  in our municipal water supplies as well as our very rainwater. Yes, even something as natural as rainwater has been corrupted and poisoned by cancer-causing chemicals such as Roundup (glyphosate). Our honey bees are dying off as well, insects who help pollinate the vast majority of our crops, because of the use of neonics (bee-killing insecticides). And of course, climate change is in the news yet again as we hit another all-time high temperature month. We're running out of time--we need to speak out and show solidarity with the Earth. Yet some in elected office act like they're too busy with "more important" issues than the safety and quality of our food, air and water. Who are these unenlightened individuals? Read on and see.

"Regressive Progressives" 

by C.A. Matthews

If you don't what quantitative easing is (meme above) and how it's affected our world economy for the worse, watch the movie The Big Short. The "too big to fail" banks are back in business, bigger and badder than before. The next mortgage crisis could be right behind the corner many economists say, only we might call it the student loan crisis instead.

Since it's difficult for me to explain economic theory, watch this video.(Warning: Adult Language used occasionally.)

https://youtu.be/Sgb8-i9COHU

If you're wondering why I posted the top meme showing former President Obama and quantitative easing, consider this: Obama recently received $3.2 million for a one hour speech in Milan, Italy. This, of course, was a couple of weeks after he accepted $400,000 for speech given on Wall Street. Do these sound like the actions of "progressive" individual who understands what it's like to be a struggling, working American? Or does it sound like a retired corporate politician who's cashing in on his lobbyist friends' promises of more money to come?

Here's another video explaining what progressives are not:

https://youtu.be/XvxY46nzKFY

Jimmy Dore is a comedian with a razor sharp wit that can cut through the bull in the headlines and get to the bottom of things. You can't pull something over on someone like Jimmy and trick him into thinking you're something you're not. He sees through your mask, and he calls you out on your blatant lying.

What has Jimmy's razor sharp wit got to do with our topic of "regressive progressives"? If you haven't watch the above videos, do so now and you'll see. Jimmy and many others refuse to play games with corporate Democrats who think they've fooled the voters into thinking they're "progressive" when they're not. Uh-uh. If you're on the corporate payroll and rather whine about "Russia, Russia, Russia!" instead of focusing your energies on passing the Medicare for All bills and protecting Medicaid from being dismantled or sponsoring the New Glass-Steagall Act that would protect ordinary Americans' savings and home mortgages, then you're not a true progressive.

Simply put, if you want to keep the status-quo of only two factions in power and you're okay with the Citizen United ruling, stating "money is speech," and you can't wait for your next Big Pharma or Big Oil lobbyist paycheck, then you're not a progressive. To progress means to go forward--not to go backward to the 19th century. The International Monetary Fund has said neoliberal policies (policies sponsored by both the Democratic and Republican Parties) since the Reagan era have made our economy into one where today there is worse income inequality than in Victorian times. 

Let that sink in for a moment. The IMF sees the American worker and our economy as worse off than it was in good ol' Victorian times, when children worked in factories instead of going to public schools and African-Americans were kept as slaves on Southern plantations. Air darkened by coal smoke and rivers filled with human wastes and no universal health care were all familiar things in the 19th century. It wasn't just pretty hoop skirts and gentlemen in top hats. Sorry to say, but PBS Masterpiece dramas leave out a lot of the horrible stench, death, decay and epidemics rampant in the 1800s when life expectancy was very low.

In other words, the "good ol' days" weren't all that good--and they particularly weren't that good for the majority of the world's population. Why should we regress to those times when only the immensely wealthy had half a chance of living long enough to enjoy a leisurely retirement? Why aren't we--and our elected representatives--working for a better world where all human beings are guaranteed  health care, education, and adequate food and shelter? 

Could it be because everyone is being distracted by the "Oo-shiny!" tactics created by the neoliberals or "regressive progressives"? While our backs are turned, Billionaires Lay Siege to Our State Government. These billionaires get away with it because we're easily distracted by the manufactured news items put out by the mainstream media while ignoring the important stories happening around the world. Amazing how Americans still place their trust in the mainstream media, which is owned by  a handful of corporations and financed by the likes of the Koch Brothers. (You say you didn't know billionaires were telling you what to think and believe all this time via the mainstream media outlets? I have only one thing to say to you: "Ooo-shiny!")

Who has the most to gain by manipulating the public's attention by focusing on only on smokescreen issues instead of passing progressive legislation--could it be the failing DNC? They've certainly done all they can to quash any mention in the mainstream media of their mistakes, including the story of DNC staffer/potential Wikileaks DNC email leaker Seth Rich's murder. They've certainly done all they can to stop any mention about the ongoing class action lawsuit by Bernie Sanders supporters against the DNC, in which the DNC has openly admitted in court they aren't legally obligated to hold honest, non-rigged primaries.

Political factions that act more concerned about keeping their positions of power and cashing in those lucrative lobbyist checks than in taking care of ordinary Americans' needs are not "progressive" by any stretch of the imagination. They don't deserve our attention to their smokescreen tactics that hide their laziness and selfishness. They definitely don't merit our votes. Let your elected representatives know you're not a toddler distracted by the "Oo-shiny!" stunts to deflect attention away from their flaws. Let them know you expect to be heard and your needs attended to, or else they can progress to the nearest exit and head home after the next election.

We the People are progressing forward. The status-quo-loving fat cats will be left behind. For good.

***

For those who wonder why we at Our Revolution Continues have not worked ourselves into a tizzy about "Russia, Russia, Russia!" the following pretty much explains our position on this "Oo-shiny!" smokescreen topic.

From Jill Stein and the Green Party--

Corporate media’s Neo-McCarthyism: Don’t believe the hysteria

NBC recently reported that I had been at an event in Russia along with Vladimir Putin in 2015. Notice that whenever you see this story in the corporate media, it consists of nothing more than a photo, because if they reported any of the facts behind the photo it would undermine the story they are trying to invent.

In reality, the NBC report didn’t say anything that wasn’t in my campaign’s press release about the Moscow event in December 2015. My trip to Russia, like my visit to the COP21 climate conference in Paris as part of the same trip, was about promoting diplomacy, peace, and international cooperation on pressing global issues. I criticized the militaristic policies of both the Russian and US governments, and proposed an alternative vision: working together on a “Peace Offensive” to de-escalate conflict in the Middle East and around the world.

I was one of a number of American advocates for a more peaceful and just foreign policy in Moscow, including Thom Hartmann, Rocky Anderson, Ray McGovern, Max Blumenthal, and Jesse Ventura.

The Moscow conference featured public figures, politicians and academics from across Europe and North America, as well as journalists and major media leadership from India, China, Russia, Europe and the US. It was an honor to be able to address the international community, and show them we Greens are fighting for a foreign policy based on international law. human rights and diplomacy, not on economic and military domination.

It is not only justifiable to attempt to communicate with other nations, it’s essential to do so if we are to have any hope of solving the gravest threats to human survival: endless war, climate meltdown and the threat of nuclear conflict. The Greens are the only political party with a plan to address all these issues. No wonder we are under attack by both Democrats and Republicans, and their surrogates in the corporate media, even outside the election cycle.

NBC and other corporate media outlets have tried to create the impression that I refuse to answer questions about my Russia trip. Actually, I have answered these questions so many times I’ve lost count, but when the corporate media realize that the answers don’t support their pre-conceived smear narrative, they refuse to print the facts. No, I did not speak with Vladimir Putin. Nor did I receive any payment from Russia. Why has one reporter after another, after hearing these facts, decided not to publish them? Why do they choose instead to encourage sensational conspiracy thinking based on a photo?

This transparent campaign of neo-McCarthyism perfectly demonstrates why Americans’ trust in mass media has plummeted to an all-time low.This is just the latest in a long line of smear campaigns from the corporate media. For a look at the many desperate attempts to discredit our grassroots movement, check out our “Haters Gonna Hate” page debunking the smears.

It’s time to withdraw our trust and support from these masters of

misinformation, and put our resources towards building independent, non-corporate people’s media to provide the truthful information we need to create the future we deserve.

Meanwhile, the fact that Democratic apologists are attacking us outside of an electoral campaign is a great sign. We have become a force to contend with and they are rightly worried. The American people are clamoring for a new way forward and together, we're creating a future whose time has come, that puts people, planet and peace over profit.

It’s in our hands!

Jill Stein

***

Here are some progressive groups that are staying on task. Our planet can't wait for the media circus to die down. We need to work on climate change now. 

From Climate Hawks Vote:

While Donald Trump is firing FBI directors and slipping state secrets to Russia, global warming isn’t going away.

Here are some important stories you may not have heard this week, about the reality of the threat we face — and of our ability to take action.

    An arctic refuge for the world’s most important seeds, built to last forever, flooded after permafrost melted. Designed as a deep freezer for the world's most previous seeds, the buried vault was nearly breached by meltwater due to extraordinarily hot Arctic temperatures.

    Fueled by carbon pollution, severe storms and tornadoes in the Midwest killed three people and injured dozens more. On Tuesday alone there were 26 reported tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.

    Early last Saturday afternoon, California’s grid hit a new record for renewable energy usage. Renewable sources produced a record-breaking 67.2% of electricity for California's largest power grid.

Fossil-fueled climate change remains the defining crisis of our time. Even when the real world doesn’t receive Trump-level coverage on television, we need to continue building our movement for action.

Resisting Trump isn’t just about stopping his day-to-day recklessness. It’s about getting our nation back to work on addressing reality.

If we work together we can keep fossil fuels in the ground, win 100% renewable energy for 100% of people, and bring climate deniers to justice.

That’s our end goal. Let’s keep growing this movement together.

Your fellow climate hawk,

Brad

www.climatehawksvote.com

References

Severe Storms, Tornadoes Kill 3 and Injure Dozens More In the Midwest, Plains, The Weather Channel.

Arctic stronghold of world’s seeds flooded after permafrost melts, The Guardian

California grid sets record, with 67% of power from renewables, SFGate

And from March for Science:


At a confirmation hearing late last week, the nominee for Deputy Secretary of Interior, David Bernhardt, told a Senate panel that the President’s political positions could be prioritized over science when deciding agency policy.
In fact, the last time Bernhardt served in the Department of Interior, he was one of several officials accused of ignoring scientific data. 

This is part of a troubling trend of nominees to senior science-related positions that have either no background in science or have a record of ignoring or minimizing science in policy-making.
If you believe that putting politics ahead of science is wrong, please add your name to oppose nominees who don’t respect science.

Perhaps even more troubling is that dozens of key science and technology positions remain unfilled, including the heads of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and more.

The names that have been floated to fill some of these key roles are either scientists whose views are entirely outside of the consensus on key issues like climate change or have no scientific background at all, as is the case with the likely nominee for Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It is vitally important to fill these critical science positions at Federal agencies and to voice opposition to the appointment of nominees who ignore science in policy-making.

Speak up right now -- add your name and oppose ignoring science in the Federal government.

-The March for Science Team