When Vannevar Bush published Science, the Endless Frontier shortly before the atom bomb closed the Second World War, he launched the era of Big Science. Trillions of dollars subsequently flowed, and life was good.

When President Eisenhower delivered his farewell address he warned that “public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.” Nobody listened, and life was good.

When Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins, and the EcoHealth Alliance teamed up with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to do dangerous gain-of-function research that had been banned in the U.S., SARS CoV-2 escaped the lab and 20 million people died.

Oops.

Big Science had a PR problem. But not to worry! Allies controlled the government, the intelligence agencies, the law enforcement agencies, the scientific journals, the media, the universities, the arts, and the entertainment industry. We got this!

Pangolins did it! Yeah, that’s the ticket. We didn’t do anything wrong. There are no lessons to learn. Just follow The Science™ and all will be well.

Then Elon bought Twitter and the House of Narratives came crashing down.

Trust in the government, the intelligence agencies, the law enforcement agencies, the scientific journals, the media, the universities, the arts, and the entertainment industry collapsed faster than sales of Bud Light.

But do not worry! The recent “Stand Up For Science” rallies show that despite the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment, Big Science has become the official state religion. Surely it will survive this crisis, billions will flow again, and life will be good.

So sing along with Francis Collins and know that “all the good people” will prevail.