When I read Wired's "Republican Congressman Crowdsource Attack on Science", I thought of all the projects they oppose without even weighing costs and benefits. The crowdsourcing is an attempt to get the general public to expose "waste" in federal spending, starting with the National Science Foundation. They essentially take an apparently frivolous aspect of a project without looking any deeper into what benefits might be gained. They have started YouCut Citizen Review. Maybe the first cut in the federal budget should be to disband YouCut?
Would today's Republicans support Abraham Lincoln's push for a transcontinental railroad? Especially with the huge outlay of bonds to fund it? That would not lead to a balanced budget.
Would today's Republicans support Abraham Lincoln's handling of the Civil War? Although today's Republicans are big on spending on the military (without any meaningful analysis of the benefits), they are also big on states' rights, the major argument leading to the Civil War.
