In case you weren’t aware of it, the U.S. is in the middle of an election year. That means that those of us who live here (and those who are U.S. citizens but living elsewhere) get to choose our Fearless Leader for the next 4+ years.

For those of us who are scientifically literate, interested in science, or are just plain down with the coolness of science, the past 8 years have seen a major assault on science and reason, particularly from the more fundamentalist religious folk. This has been aided and abetted by the politicians (mostly on the Republican, conservative side of the aisle) who see more money and power in suppressing reason and science and catering to fundamentalist viewpoints. This is, of course, counterproductive to a technological society that depends on science …and technology… for much of its jobs, power, product.

Well, it’s about time to change that paradigm. It’s about time to start asking our future leaders just what their views on and support of science are. So, with that in mind, a huge cross-section of Americans who are concerned about the scientific literacy of the U.S. is sponsoring a Science Debate for the presidential candidates. It’s about time that sane scientific though is given respect in this country and the place to start is by having people who want to be president show us what they’ve got when it comes to REALLY understanding science and making policy about it (and not just quoting scripture or mouthing pre-digested tidbits from cre*tionist thinktanks).

So, if you’d like to know what the candidates think or know about science, head over to ScienceDebate2008 and help ring the clarion call for a sane and honest debate about science in the presidential campaigns.

Thanks to Phil Plait over at BadAstronomy.com for bringing this to our attention.