Congressional Science Injection

The US Congress got a badly-needed shot of rationality today as Democrat Bill Foster won the special election to replace retired speaker of the house Dennis Hastert. Leaving aside the fact that winning an election in a heavily Republican district bodes well for the fall, the thing that excites me most is Foster's 25-year record as a particle physicist and proponent of scientific research. In a legislative body full of dogmatic thinking and bully pulpits, even a single scientific and rationally-based member can go a long way. I didn't think Foster would win. The Repubs sunk a ton of cash into this race, and even got John McMaverick to campaign for Foster's opponent. The fact that the nerdy rational thinker pulled it out, in the district of the birthplace of Ronald Reagan, no less, is perhaps another sign that we're turning a corner on these long years of critical ignorance.