French philosopher Joseph de Maistre is credited with saying, "Every country has the government it deserves." That may serve as a stinging rebuke to those of us who dwell in 21st Century America, where partisan gridlock, mutual distrust, and general nastiness have culminated in an election that has made history for all the wrong reasons.
To ensure that we are governed by worthy individuals, we ought to seriously reconsider our tribalistic tendency to vote reflexively for one party or the other. Instead of casting a vote primarily based upon whether a candidate's name is followed by a D or an R, we should first determine if the candidate is (1) decent, (2) sane, and (3) (because we are a science education site) reasonably pro-science.
To this end, we have created an infographic to help you make your choices. Hopefully it will come in handy for 2016 and beyond!
Alex Berezow, PhD
Former Vice President of Scientific Communications
Dr. Alex Berezow is a PhD microbiologist, science writer, and public speaker who specializes in the debunking of junk science for the American Council on Science and Health. He is also a member of the USA Today Board of Contributors and a featured speaker for The Insight Bureau. Formerly, he was the founding editor of RealClearScience.
