On Monday, Scientific American (SA) endorsed Kamala Harris for President. It was only the second time in its 179-year history that America’s venerable general science magazine has endorsed a presidential candidate. The first was Joe Biden in 2020.
Why this recent editorial interest in presidential politics for a publication that had not officially backed a candidate in all the years before those two? For context, when the magazine’s first edition was published in 1845, James Polk was President, there were 27 states, and c.20 million Americans.
What happened to cause SA to drop its neutrality after 43 presidential elections and take a stand, first with Joe and now with Kamala? (Hint: although it did not officially endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016, it editorialized favorably for her — what did the three elections have in common?)
Unlike this writer, SA did not waste time getting to the point. The title says it all:
“Vote for Kamala Harris to Support Science, Health and the Environment”
Just in case that wasn’t clear, SA’s editors added the rubric:
“Kamala Harris has plans to improve health, boost the economy and mitigate climate change. Donald Trump has threats and a dangerous record.”
That was for warm-up. They continued by contrasting Harris’s willingness to base her beneficial political decisions on evidence, facts, and intellectual flexibility — while she acknowledges the existential threat of climate change.
“In the November election, the U.S. faces two futures. In one, the new president offers the country better prospects, relying on science, solid evidence and the willingness to learn from experience. She pushes policies that boost good jobs nationwide by embracing technology and clean energy. She supports education, public health and reproductive rights. She treats the climate crisis as the emergency it is and seeks to mitigate its catastrophic storms, fires and droughts.”
They contrast that approach with Trump’s embrace of junk science and conspiracies. His harmful policies and personality. And his reliance on second-rate toadies.
“In the other future, the new president endangers public health and safety and rejects evidence, preferring instead nonsensical conspiracy fantasies. He ignores the climate crisis in favor of more pollution. He requires that federal officials show personal loyalty to him rather than upholding U.S. laws. He fills positions in federal science and other agencies with unqualified ideologues. He goads people into hate and division, and he inspires extremists at state and local levels to pass laws that disrupt education and make it harder to earn a living.”
SA then dove into specifics and contrasted Harris and Trump’s policies and results in several areas. (For brevity, I will only give the reader a taste. For the publication's full position, click HERE)
HEALTH CARE
Harris: The Biden-Harris administration shored up the popular Affordable Care Act (ACA), giving more people access to health insurance through subsidies. During Harris’s September 10 debate with Trump, she said one of her goals as president would be to expand it.
Trump: When in office, Trump proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. He also pushed for a work requirement as a condition for Medicaid eligibility, making it harder for people to qualify for the program. As a candidate, both in 2016 and this year, he pledged to repeal the ACA, but it’s not clear what he would replace it with.
COVID
Harris was vice president of an administration that boosted widespread distribution of COVID vaccines and created a program for free mail-order COVID tests
Trump touted his pandemic efforts during his first debate with Harris, but in 2020 he encouraged resistance to basic public health measures, spread misinformation about treatments and suggested injections of bleach could cure the disease.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Harris is a staunch supporter of reproductive rights. During the September debate, she spoke plainly about her desire to reinstate “the protections of Roe v. Wade.” She has vowed to improve access to abortion. She has defended the right to order the abortion pill mifepristone through the mail under authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, even as MAGA Republican state officials have tried—so far unsuccessfully—to revoke those rights.
Trump appointed the conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, removing the constitutional right to a basic health-care procedure. He spreads misinformation about abortion—during the September debate, he said some states support abortion into the ninth month and beyond, calling it “execution after birth.” No state allows this.
GUN SAFETY
Harris: The Biden-Harris administration closed the gun-show loophole, which had allowed people to buy guns without a license. The evidence is clear that easy access to guns in the U.S. has increased the risk of suicides, murder and firearm accidents. Harris supports a program that temporarily removes guns from people deemed dangerous by a court.
Trump promised the National Rifle Association that he would get rid of all Biden-Harris gun measures. Even after Trump was injured and a supporter was killed in an attempted assassination, the former president remained silent on gun safety. His running mate, J. D. Vance, said the increased number of school shootings was an unhappy “fact of life” and the solution was stronger school security.
ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE
Harris said pointedly during the September debate that climate change was real. She would continue the responsible leadership shown by Biden, who has undertaken the most substantial climate action of any president.
Trump has said climate change is a hoax, and he dodged the question “What would you do to fight climate change?” during the September debate. He pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement. Under his direction the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies abandoned more than 100 environmental policies and rules.
TECHNOLOGY
Harris: The Biden-Harris administration’s 2023 Executive Order on Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence requires that AI-based products be safe for consumers and national security. The CHIPS and Science Act invigorates the chipmaking industry and semiconductor research while growing the workforce.
Trump: A new Trump administration would undo all of this work and quickly. Under the devious and divisive Project 2025 framework, technology safeguards on AI would be overturned. AI influences our criminal justice, labor and health-care systems. As is the rightful complaint now, there would be no knowing how these programs are developed, how they are tested or whether they even work.
SA’s editors finish by presenting their closing argument. They warn that it’s not just Trump. The rest of MAGA is also taking an ax to America’s knowledge tree.
The 2024 U.S. ballots are also about Congress and local officials—people who make decisions that affect our communities and families. Extremist state legislators in Ohio, for instance, have given politicians the right to revoke any rule from the state health department designed to limit the spread of contagious disease. Other states have passed similar measures. In education, many states now forbid lessons about racial bias. But research has shown such lessons reduce stereotypes and do not prompt schoolchildren to view one another negatively, regardless of their race. This is the kind of science MAGA politicians ignore, and such people do not deserve our votes.
They point out that Kamala’s science-based thinking is good for the economy, profits, and jobs.
At the top of the ballot, Harris does deserve our vote. She offers us a way forward lit by rationality and respect for all. Economically, the renewable-energy projects she supports will create new jobs in rural America. Her platform also increases tax deductions for new small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000, making it easier for them to turn a profit.
Whereas Donald is a dystopian dirtbag.
Trump, a convicted felon who was also found liable of sexual abuse in a civil trial, offers a return to his dark fantasies and demagoguery, whether it’s denying the reality of climate change or the election results of 2020 that were confirmed by more than 60 court cases, including some that were overseen by judges whom he appointed.
They finish by sealing the deal.
One of two futures will materialize according to our choices in this election. Only one is a vote for reality and integrity. We urge you to vote for Kamala Harris.
For a happier planet, get on the Harris/Walz bandwagon. We don't have a lot of time left.
#vote #science
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