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It is a delusion to presume that politics can be avoided, escaped, or isolated. That institutions of power or prestige within society ever can or ever were devoid of politics, that they can exist and operate in a vacuum.

This ideological faith clouds judgement, more realism is necessary to navigate these issues.

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I'll see your realism and raise you one.

The belief that science, technology, and environmental policy can transcend partisan politics is necessary for western society to function.

If you step over that in your eagerness to apply postmodern analysis, you'll introduce even greater challenges than the ones we're already barely capable of addressing.

The challenge is not introduced, it is always there to varying degrees. Again, your statement seems to presume you can have political enemies that will ignore the distinction (that they have existential differences) and put it aside. I'm not saying there is no way to address political reality, but that it cannot be ignored or presumed to not exist. At some points the intractable political conflict must be solved first before you can get back to science and technology amongst friends.

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