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Point of Interest
Succeeding
Senator Phil Gramm, and
Some Thoughts on Diversity in Parliamentary Bodies
Senator
Gramm's career, as described, for example, in Michael Barone's
Almanac of American Politics, has been one of such special
achievement that it might daunt a successor. Fortunately, to
"succeed" is just that - to follow, and not to "replace",
because his record of service, particularly in the Banking and
in the Budget Committees, is one that only someone with Phil
Gramm's background as an economist is likely to match.
Whoever
succeeds Senator Gramm will deserve to do so only by having
qualifications similar in quality to his, if not in economics
then in another field of importance comparable to economics
in the making of public policy in the U. S. Senate.
Fortunately,
Lawrence Cranberg's Ph.D., and his long career have been in
physics research and development, and, like Phil Gramm's career,
in education. For in the years since World War II scientific
research and development have soared in importance in making
public policy in the key areas of defense, energy, health, environment,
and in basic research itself as a recognized part of our agenda,
with the creation of new agencies of government.
Policy-making
for science, and for the many areas in which science is critical,
are now critical to the country's policy-making responsibility.
How are we handling it?
The development of nuclear energy and its applications by the
wartime federal government have been a major factor in the shift
of federal priorities toward science. At the same time, that
success has created what is sometimes a simplistic faith that
one can do almost anything with "another Manhattan Project",
and that all we have to do is throw enough public money at a
problem to solve it. But experience and common sense do not
always agree with that expectation, so that it is important
to have in Congress men and women with more thoughtful views,
and the professional knowledge to back them up.
Professional
expertise should be brought to bear not only on matters of policy.
It is up to the Senate to pass on the qualifications of major
officers of the other two branches of government. If we are
to have functionaries who really function in the country's largest
work force, it is obviously prudent to start right at the top.
Only those who can, do, and can reliably recognize other doers.
Today we know how damaging oversights can be - for example,
from flimsy cockpit doors and lack of surveillance cameras in
aircraft cabins.
One of
the blessings of democracy is that it opens doors to citizens
of the most diverse talents and backgrounds. We have abolished
a "Governing Class", but the fact is that a majority
of our Senators are of one profession - lawyers. And lawyers
are not among the best educated in science of this country's
professionals. Lawyers are of course extremely useful in many
contexts. But if they are not specialists in international,
constitutional or environmental law, or other branch with broad
policy implications, their usefulness in making public policy
in today's scientific age may be less than it has been in the
past.
At this
hour in our history we are being challenged by ingenious enemies
with daring new strategies. At least one of our Senators should
have expertise in a physical science that is fundamental to
all science, that he have proven ability as an inventor-innovator
with deep respect for that quality in others, and that he can
articulate and communicate, by spoken and by written word, with
the skills of an educator and sometime journalist.
The study of
Physics is a fundamental requirement in all fields of engineering,
for all physicians, for all the Service Academies, and for all
who aspire to scientific literacy and understanding of the world.
The Social Sciences themselves bear the imprint of physics as
a model science. It is a point of pride of Lawrence Cranberg's
academic career that he introduced an undergraduate course in
physics for the non-scientist at the University of Virginia in
the sixties that was very popular and is still being taught today.
Lawrence
Cranberg's broad knowledge, and his long involvement in many
issues of public policy as journalist and opinion-maker, will
add new strengths to the country's highest deliberative body.
His fellow Senators will welcome and utilize those strengths
in many important ways. If he achieves his goals, as he plans
to do, with no fund-raising, but relying on the Internet, the
media and voluntary civic organizations, that accomplishment
alone will make the contest worthwhile.
Paid
for by Lawrence Cranberg for Senate
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