Neil deGrasse Tyson identifies the cherry picking of science by politicians as the "great tragedy of modern society."

Participating in a panel with other scientists and mathematicians, Professor Tyson was asked what scientists can do to prevent scientific idea from becoming partisan:  

Tyson said he did not have a problem with people believing in anything they wanted to. “But if that belief is not based on objective truths, you should not be creating legislation based on it,” he said. 

“One of the great tragedies of modern society is that we have politicians cherry-picking science in the interests of their own social, cultural, political and religious belief systems, and that’s the beginning of the end of an informed democracy.” 

If politicians and society had strong scientific literacy, Tyson said, there should be no debate within politics as to whether climate change existed. 

“If you’re trained to understand how and why science works, then the two opposite factions can have a genuine political discussion about how to react to human-induced climate change,” he said. “That’s where the debate should happen.”

I strongly feel that we need to replace the religious litmus test applied to politicians today (And yes trust me there certainly is one.) with a test on intelligence and a basic understanding of science, economics, and history.

I think if the candidates were well versed in those disciplines we would be far less likely to elect idiots like Louie Gohmert, Jim Inhofe, or a Sarah Palin.

Just imagine the civility in conversations about the budget, space exploration, and whether or not we should go to war.

You know if that change were to really take place, we might actually be able to celebrate American exceptionalism with a straight face.