I was also talking about "politics" in terms of inter-group relationships, not electoral political parties. What I meant by "public" is that the funding decisi

I was also talking about "politics" in terms of inter-group relationships, not electoral political parties. What I meant by "public" is that the funding decisions are publicly reviewable in some way; i.e. other scientists can see and judge the funding decisions after the fact. As opposed to going to a company or rich person for private funding, which is less common but does happen.