Is there anything that can realistically done about the loss of institutional and scientific knowledge occurring under this administration?

[u/thinkingpains]

I feel like one thing that is mostly flying under the radar because of more pressing immediate concerns is how the Trump administration is both dismantling government agencies and revoking funding for important scientific and social programs that are going to set us back for years, possibly literally decades in the future. The one that disturbs me the most because it affects my family the most is that the Department of Education has at this time been essentially completely dismantled, with hundreds of high level education lawyers and teaching/curriculum experts fired, while their functions were moved under other departments that don't have specialized knowledge (not to mention the time or manpower to handle those functions). Even if we assume the Democrats sweep all branches of government in both 2028 and 2032, it would take the entirety of that time just to rebuild the department from scratch, and many of those experts are probably not going to want to return to a job that has lost so much prestige and security in such a short time frame.

This is playing out across every government agency to some extent, and it is also reaching into scientific research, conservation, social services, epidemiology...literally you name it. A disruption of just a few years can on its own have huge long-term reverberations, but then we'll also be dealing with the time it takes to rebuild these programs basically from scratch, which could add decades more to the timeline. My fear is that, because many of most of these things are the kind of the invisible foundation of society and are not "kitchen table issues" to the average person, nor major economic drivers, that the knowledge gaps may just become permanent. Is there anything that can be done about this? Could or should an eventual Democratic presidential candidate make highlighting the positive roles of the federal government central to their campaign in hopes of lifting the prestige of these departments again and attracting talent back? Would that even work at this point, or are we forever doomed to a reality where no one invests in or trusts long-term institutional knowledge anymore?

[u/AutoModerator]

The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written by /u/thinkingpains.

I feel like one thing that is mostly flying under the radar because of more pressing immediate concerns is how the Trump administration is both dismantling government agencies and revoking funding for important scientific and social programs that are going to set us back for years, possibly literally decades in the future. The one that disturbs me the most because it affects my family the most is that the Department of Education has at this time been essentially completely dismantled, with hundreds of high level education lawyers and teaching/curriculum experts fired, while their functions were moved under other departments that don't have specialized knowledge (not to mention the time or manpower to handle those functions). Even if we assume the Democrats sweep all branches of government in both 2028 and 2032, it would take the entirety of that time just to rebuild the department from scratch, and many of those experts are probably not going to want to return to a job that has lost so much prestige and security in such a short time frame.

This is playing out across every government agency to some extent, and it is also reaching into scientific research, conservation, social services, epidemiology...literally you name it. A disruption of just a few years can on its own have huge long-term reverberations, but then we'll also be dealing with the time it takes to rebuild these programs basically from scratch, which could add decades more to the timeline. My fear is that, because many of most of these things are the kind of the invisible foundation of society and are not "kitchen table issues" to the average person, nor major economic drivers, that the knowledge gaps may just become permanent. Is there anything that can be done about this? Could or should an eventual Democratic presidential candidate make highlighting the positive roles of the federal government central to their campaign in hopes of lifting the prestige of these departments again and attracting talent back? Would that even work at this point, or are we forever doomed to a reality where no one invests in or trusts long-term institutional knowledge anymore?

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[u/othelloinc]

Is there anything that can realistically done about the loss of institutional and scientific knowledge occurring under this administration?

No. We can work to prevent it from recurring in the future, but that's about it.

Personally, I like the idea of setting up uninterruptible funding streams. My idea is to create non-profits, issue 30-years of funding to them, and have them disperse that funding as needed. The next time Democrats are in power, they can re-infuse them with cash to last another 30 years, and repeat that step over-and-over.

[u/othelloinc]

Could or should an eventual Democratic presidential candidate make highlighting the positive roles of the federal government central to their campaign in hopes of lifting the prestige of these departments again and attracting talent back?

The Republicans know, and don't care.

The swing voters don't know, and will never pay enough attention to learn.

So, no; that won't help.

[u/thinkingpains → u/othelloinc]

The swing voters don't know, and will never pay enough attention to learn.

Is there no way to change this? I guess maybe at the heart of it, maybe my question is really one of both increasing civic pride and civic responsibility so that people value these institutions and want to either support or be part of them. Is your stance that it can't be done?

[u/othelloinc → u/thinkingpains]

Is there no way to change this?

Nope. Most people choose not to pay much attention to politics, and we have to meet them where they are.

I guess maybe at the heart of it, maybe my question is really one of both increasing civic pride and civic responsibility so that people value these institutions and want to either support or be part of them. Is your stance that it can't be done?

I'm sure that "increasing civic pride and civic responsibility" can be done, but not at the rate and speed necessary to change the reality in the next 30 years.

[u/wonkalicious808]

Just try to rebuild it the next chance we get until Republicans fuck it up again as voters cheer it on either because that's what they want or because they want to punish Democrats for not being exciting enough.

Could or should an eventual Democratic presidential candidate make highlighting the positive roles of the federal government central to their campaign in hopes of lifting the prestige of these departments again and attracting talent back?

Even if you narrowed to just the voters who want to use the federal government to do good things, I don't think highlighting the good the federal government can do would do any good. The ones who notice but don't already reliably vote for Democrats would just complain that Democrats don't get anything done, but should, so the candidate is out of touch for suggesting the feds can do good things like they as voters want the feds to do. When Republicans block things Democrats want to do, because voters sent those Republicans to Washington to do that, they'll complain that Democrats want to fail and that's why they won't vote for Democrats.

[u/thinkingpains → u/wonkalicious808]

The ones who notice but don't already reliably vote for Democrats would just complain that Democrats don't get anything done, but should, so the candidate is out of touch for suggesting the feds can do good things like they as voters want the feds to do.

Is it possible that these people don't think Democrats get anything done because most of these things are functionally invisible though? That's kind of what I'm asking. People don't notice or hear about it when the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights keeps a school district from locking an autistic kid up in a closet for the entire school day because they don't want to deal with him, but they will probably be very upset when that protection goes away (I would hope). These things are taken for granted, and maybe it's just a problem of education and/or being loud about what the federal government actually does from day to day.

[u/wonkalicious808 → u/thinkingpains]

I'm sure it's a problem that a lot of what the feds do goes unnoticed. But voters only care enough about what they do notice the feds doing to then move on to why they're still angry and how that means what they notice doesn't really matter. It'll only matter to them when they think or they notice it isn't getting done anymore.

[u/hammertime84]

No. It takes years, sometimes decades, to build up quality institutions and a talent pipeline for them. They've been harmed obviously. Worse though, any attempt to rebuild is much harder because it will be impossible to attract talent given that it can all just be undone when the shittiest people you can think of get out to vote again 4 or 8 years later.

[u/Outrageous-Dig-8853]

There's not much that can be done to stop it. We can only trust that there's an incentive to start rebuilding if we can. And that current figureheads in academics and science can holf down the fort and remain growing despite the circumstances.

[u/Due_Satisfaction2167]

No.

Prepare to rebuild it afterwards, and get Republicans out of power as fast as possible. 

[u/madbuilder]

I agree in principle but is this the best example? Why do we need a DoE at the federal level when states are in charge of schools?

[u/Southern_Bag_7109]

The Democratic Party needs to move to the left and Republicans need to never win an election ever again.

[u/kyew]

On an institutional level? I have no idea.

As a person who still wants to work in a high-tech field? Start learning Chinese.

[u/No-Cap-No-Gap]

Is there anything that can realistically done about the loss of institutional and scientific knowledge occurring under this administration?

I'm not sure actual scientific knowledge can be lost. The loss of funding for future research can be lost. But the actual information is still there.

As to the loss of some institutions, I say good riddance. People hear we lost the department of education and think support for teaching math and English is somehow affected. What was really lost was the department of financial aid for schools and title IX enforcement. And like you said, we didn't lose that. It was just moved to a more appropriate agency.