Let's have a actual scientist as candidate.

[BSdetect]

Preferably an atheist.

[brokephibroke]

1. Or an engineer

Hopefully atheist...

[FSogol]

6. Herbert Hoover was a well-respected engineer.

Didn't make a good President.

[jberryhill]

38. So was Jimmy Carter

What does that have to do with anything?

[FSogol]

41. I'm a mechanical engineer and work in an office full of them. Engineers don't necessarily make good

presidents, as implied by the poster I was replied to.

[crazycatlady]

2. There are some scientists running for lower ticket races

Let's focus on 2018 and taking back Congress and state legislative chambers this year before the 2020 talk begins.

BTW there's a group called 314 Action that recruits scientists to run for office.

[applegrove]

3. Doctors make terrible politicians. Except for Neil Degrass Tyson, they

don't explain things well when it comes to policy.

[GulfCoast66]

12. Do you mean physicians? Or PhD recipients

Because Angela Merkel has doctorate in chemistry.

And she has proven a fair politician.

[applegrove]

19. My experience is of medical doctors striking in Ontario a generation ago.

Everyone thought they did not make their case to the public at all.

[GulfCoast66]

24. Well then I would agree.

Most doctors are not scientists but incredibly skilled technicians of a sort. They know the human body like they know themselves. But while an enquiring mind is useful it is by no means critical. Cue the irate DU physicians!

Look at Dr. Ben Carson. Amazing brain surgeon and thinks the the pyramids were grain storage vessels and the earth is 6k years old.

We need an educated person who knows how to form alliances and when to comprise and when to double down. If that person has a doctorate so be it. But most doctorate recipients i have known, and it is quite a few, are only professionally concerned with their work.

[applegrove]

33. The scientists I have met are greatly concerned with the world. Doctors too.

That is my point. Doctors connect so well all day long with patients that you assume that warmth and care can make it through the tv camera. I'm sure some of them would be good politicians. I just have talked to two doctors about the doctor's strike and they both thought the management of the strike did not do well with public relations. Sometimes when you put on a new hat it doesn't pan out so you cannot assume that brilliant science translates immediatly to policy and political life. Obviously the Mark Kelly's and Neil D. Tyson of the world can connect better than any politician. So Democrats need to vet. As they would with any candidate. And not just assume that a scientist with a good heart and brilliant mind is going to automatically appeal to the public.

[DFW]

30. Yeah, Howard Dean was a real train wreck as DNC chairman. n/t

[applegrove]

34. He was great. Okay i take it back. What i meant was for such brilliant and

warm people in their jobs it did not translate during a doctor's strike a generation ago in Ontario.

[haele]

4. Neil Degrass Tyson.

Either one of the Kelly twins would also be good. Or Mae Jameson.

Haele

Sorry, using my supposedly smart phone

[BigmanPigman]

15. I thought of Neil when I read the OP too.

I have seen him on Bill Maher (an atheist) with Dawkins (an atheist) and Neil is not an atheist. Too bad. I would still like him as a cabinet member on the next prez's cabinet though.

[Moostache]

28. Yup....first to come to mind here too (n/t)

[Codeine]

5. Well see a Muslim president before we see

an atheist president. People really do not like us.

[Kilgore]

7. Why?

When you can have The Oprah?

[marylandblue]

8. John Hickenlooper, Colorado Governor, is a geologist.

[El Supremo]

18. And pro oil.

And he's not an atheist. Nor inspiring.

[marylandblue]

21. Inspirational scientists are rare as diamonds

But at least he understands global warming and promotes sustainable energy. He is probably not as pro-oil as he was during the early days of the fracking boom.

[mitch96]

9. Wasn't Jimmy Carter a nuclear engineer?

You bet your dam skippy you got to be smart to drive a nuclear sub...... or run a peanut farm..
m

[displacedtexan]

16. Yes. You do have to be smart to do both.

Thanks for posting this.

[doc03]

10. Wasn't Jimmy Carter? nt

[byronius]

11. Well, yeah, totally agree. But.

Josef Mengele

Your post made me really think about it. Scientist, yes, atheist, yes, go on down the list -- but at the top of it must be 'dedicated civil servant', 'emotionally intelligent', and 'honorable'. Wisdom in leadership is not automatically conferred by intelligence or adherence to realism any more than it is conferred by a fat bank account or level of cunning.

It comes down to the hard truths of a nation's population. The US is the most diverse nation on earth, but it suffers from all the standard human plagues, mostly primitive tribalism disguised as common sense. Delusional thinking abounds, if one accepts the polls about common beliefs. Ignorance abounds, because we're all just early-issue human animals. Our representation is tilted by cheating from the Throwbacks, but it's not that far from representative. Leadership, population -- it's close enough to make one worry about survival. These are the days.

I miss Obama's wisdom most of all. He was always thinking, always moving, always growing. He cared, and that is a scientifically provable fact. I sincerely miss that indeed.

Someone who cares.

[JI7]

13. Carter fit scientist but not atheist

[doc03]

17. Interesting I looked up Jimmy Carter on Wikipedia. The electorial map

for his election is like totally oposite of today. Carter carried all the south and lost in todays big Blue states.

[GulfCoast66]

25. Because the racist had no candidate

Then Reagan came along and let the Southern Whites know the still had a party to vote for that would push their racist policies. All they had to do was become a republican.

I know. I lived it.

[JI7]

40. demographic changes in california resulted in CA now being very blue. conservative whites left the

state and moved to places like arizona and more minorities moved into the state and got more politically involved.

remember California passed prop 187 . that would never pass today. and it probably had a lot to do with hispanics and other immigrants getting more involved in politics.

[csziggy]

32. Carter is a Christian who really lives the word of Jesus Christ

Rather than the distorted tenets of the right wingers who call themselves Christian.

I personally do not believe in a religion, but I do respect those who truly follow the best teachings of their own religion. President Carter is one of those. The number of true Christians I have known of are fewer than the fingers of one hand.

[Eko]

14. Sounds good.

[gay texan]

20. We Need Captain Janeway

The real life version of her, that is

[Hekate]

22. I love it that Chancellor Angela Merkel is a PhD in Physics, & that the Pope is a Chemist...

Both have worked in their respective scientific fields; Merkel has taught physics, but I don't remember if Pope Francis taught science or not.

I am not a scientist myself, but I appreciate how the field teaches habits of discipline and intellectual rigor. Too narrowly focused, and a person becomes rigid -- but that is true of anyone.

[NightWatcher]

23. Your lips to god...

Never mind, but I'd be down with someone who lives for today and not a promised land in the hereafter.

[marylandblue]

26. I saw a discussion with Richard Dawkins

where he asserted that many US politicians are in fact atheists but they can't admit it because they won't get elected. I think he is right.

[former9thward]

35. He asserted without giving any evidence whatsoever.

He was just projecting his own opinions on others.

[marylandblue]

36. True, but I thought it was interesting to think about

[former9thward]

37. Yes, it is.

And I think an atheist who ran for office would not get too far. But in life I have ran into very few actual atheists who are doing science.

[The_Casual_Observer]

27. The problem with this idea is that scientists are trained to be honest, logical and ethical.

These are traits that are in conflict with the political system.

[TomSlick]

29. A no religion test is still a religious test.

I would prefer someone with experience in domestic and foreign affairs. I don't care about her religion.

[Victor_c3]

31. Maybe I should run!

1) I have 10+ years experience working for the federal government, 5 of those years as a chemist
2) I'm an atheist
3) I'm also a semi-decorated combat veteran! I served as an Infantry Platoon Leader in Iraq for 13 months, received a BSM and an ARCOM-V (for valor). I did nearly 6 years as an Officer in the Army.

Except....
1) I only have a 4 year degree in chemistry, not a PhD
2) I'm more agnostic than atheist, but a pretty hardcore non-believer
3) I'm also a kooked-out with PTSD. You think our current president is crazy? I've actually spent a fair amount of time in the psych ward, struggle with suicide, and alcohol abuse. I collect SSDI and have been medically retired from my job as a result.

Seriously though, I've thought about local government offices. I have a lot of free time, I love reading journals and professional articles, and I give a damn - that has to be good for something. However t I have some serious limitations due to my psych issues and I honestly don't think I could do it.

[RGinNJ]

39. How about Rush Holt.

[LanternWaste]

42. I'd rather instead a good, strong and liberal candidate... regardless of career or faith.

I'd rather instead a good, strong and liberal candidate... regardless of career or faith.

BSdetect, indeed.