If nature can manage the universe on schedule and without a scratch, why not give it a crack at the deficit?

Last night John Hagelin, presidential candidate for the Natural Law Party, suggested just that.

Speaking to an audience of over 150 people at the ARCO Forum, Hagelin said that scientific methods can be used to solve all of the nation's problems from the deficit to "collective imbalance."

"The Natural Law Party believes in government based on what works, that which has been field tested and scientifically proven--not what is politically expedient," said Hagelin, who earned a physics Ph.D from Harvard.

Hagelin's speech focused on streamlining the budget, implementing preventative health care, modernizing farming methods and using transcendental meditation to reduce criminal recidivism.

Hagelin said that the country needs a leader committed to pushing scientifically-sound solutions through "the bipartisan gridlock" in Washington.

Most audience members appeared supportive of Hagelin's approach to politics.

Even if the Natural Law presidential candidate loses, "the actual platform will be adoptive by other parties because it makes sense," said Steve B. Metruck, a first-year student at the Kennedy School.

But Gaudenz B. Assenza, a first-year student at the Kennedy School, said while he liked these programs, he thought that Hagelin's approach was both vague and overly simplistic.

"Look, science hasn't solved the problems of the world--even with its proposals, we still are where we are," Assenza said.

Although the Natural Law Party is only five months old, Hagelin said last night it advocates the same principles on which the nation was founded. The Natural Law Party is on the ballot in 30 states and has qualified for federal matching funds.

"This party has the blueprint by which nature oversees and gets things going," said Marc Lecroix, campaign manager for a Natural Law congressional candidate in Massachusetts. "A vote for any other party is a vote for...chaos."