Yes I want the National Science Foundation (NSF) defunded. It is an agency that I find very little use for when you look at the overall function of government. Government is to make and enforce law with respect to protecting our freedoms, not sending out grant money to various projects that may not bear any merit in the long run. So here are my reasons why.
It's already being done by someone else: While the National Science Foundation gives out grant money to support many non-medical related scientific research and initiatives, they are not the only ones doing that job. Other government agencies also give money for various scientific projects. One such agency is the Department of Defense who does research into new engine technologies and fuels. NASA also has its own labs and will contract out for various projects and studies as well. Overall, the NSF's main job is to support scientific study, but it is being done by other agencies in the first place making the agency redundant.
They study that?!: Some of the things the NSF help support/study are either useless or needs no funding to begin with. One example is political science. The NSF gives grants to universities to study political science, a "soft science." If you have ever studied politics as I have, you will realize that the study of politics is not about furthering scientific discovery and while useful to some, does not warrant any amount of money from the government. Another example is the studies on things like computer sciences, or even sociology. Since when is it necessary to fund such research? Tech companies are already far ahead and develop new computer skills and technology without any help. Many of the countries greatest brands even started out in the garage of tech pioneers and you can be sure there will be others. Sociology is another soft science that looks to find out why groups behave in certain ways based on environmental stimulus. However, does government actually need to study such information? Is it necessary for government to know how we behave, let alone pay someone to study it? I think not. This is just the very tip of the iceberg...or maybe the shrimp as it was made to run on a pint sized treadmill to see how long it would take to die whilst running. Yea, our tax dollars paid for that.
Funding alternatives: As some people may question getting rid of the NSF, I will tell you that there is another way for these programs and scientific initiatives to get funded. One method is through the University. If a University thinks your project has merit, then they will pay for your research. This of course is one of the more traditional types of funding. Another is if the research you are doing is important enough to draw in people to want to support you. The best examples of this are cancer fighting treatments (as we want that eradicated) and space technology (as space is looking to be the next big business opportunity). But what of the smaller projects you ask? Well have you ever heard of Crowd Funding? Basically it is a way for people to donate toward a cause of some variety like they do a charity. The difference is that it could fund anything. Crowd Funding has been used to fund movies, the building of schools and hospitals and of course scientific research. It is all about convincing people that your idea has enough merit to the point where they will give you a bit of their money (and in some cases a part in the movie). Crowd Funding removes the need for the big time universities, businesses and government from having to fund what would be considered small scientific projects. With Crowd Funding the people decide for themselves what projects are worth looking into.
Conclusion: The NSF is one of those agencies from a bygone error. It was originally developed to help coordinate between the various departments in government’s scientific research in WW II. Later it would evolve into an agency that funds various projects, but is rendered redundant by later agencies with respect to technological advancements. The DOD, NASA, National Institute of health and others have made this agency obsolete. As such it is time to let this one go. Let us save some tax dollars by removing government overlap and redundancy by defunding the NSF.
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