MASA

Why trust me? I have a bachelor's degree in creative writing. I am highly skilled in the realm of obfuscation and manipulation of words and phrases. I am not a scientists. To that end, I found myself as an undergraduate taking a course titled "Physics For Non-Science Majors." I tell you this in order to establish my distance from science, not out of any lack of respect. I maintain a great deal of respect for all the sciences: physical, life, earth. Science is cool. 
You don't have to take my word for it. You should believe real scientists like Bill Nye. Or maybe Neil deGrasse Tyson. Doctor Tyson doesn't know more than anyone else, but he does know a lot more than me. It is for that reason that I have decided to trust him when he says, "We all want to Make America Great Again. But that won't happen until we first Make America Smart Again." This was the initial shot in a Twitter barrage Neil set off over the past weekend. It was his reply to a budget released by the "President" that took great wide cuts from social and science programs that might have made it easier to achieve that smartness goal. He went on: "The fastest way to Make a America Weak Again: Cut science funds to our agencies that support it." And "The fastest way to Make America Sick Again: Cut funding to the National Institutes of Health." Of course, "The fastest way to Make America Stupid: Cut funds to programs that support education." And obviously, "The fastest way to thwart Earth's life-support systems for us all: Turn EPA into EDA -- the Environmental Destruction Agency." 
All of this was rounded out with a question: "We can all imagine a land that provides no support for Art. But is that a place you'd want to Live? To Visit? To Play?" 
It should be noted that, while Neil deGrasse Tyson is a very smart man with degrees in physics and astronomy with all kinds of astrophysics and space junk that go on for parsecs. But he is not an economist. Figuring out a way to pay for all of this art and science is not his responsibility. His job is to explain what happens to a station wagon travelling the speed of light and someone turns on the headlights. He is supposed to make science fun and available for us non-science majors. 
He wasn't supposed to make us think. 
Thanks a lot, science guys.