On last night’s edition of 20/20, John Stossel weighed in on California’s Proposition 71, which would provide $3 billion in public funding to private companies for stem cell research.
His opinion mirrors my own, which I have expressed in previous posts.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are already being spent to fund private stem-cell research, but private research isn’t good enough, say supporters of California’s Proposition 71. So celebrities like Brad Pitt, Michael J. Fox, Edward James Olmos, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Gates, Nancy Reagan, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are urging voters to say “yes” to Proposition 71.
Without this additional government program, they say, the research will be paralyzed by the Bush administration.
That’s not exactly true. President Bush has limited the embryonic stem-cell research that can be done with federal money, but researchers at Harvard, Vanderbilt, and other private institutions already are spending millions on stem-cell research.
Maybe stem-cell research will be a great thing. But government is force. By making this a ballot initiative, it means that millions of people will be forced to pay for something they consider murder.
I don’t buy the murder argument but I do agree that Proposition 71 is a way for some very wealthy people to force taxpayers to fund the risks of stem cell research. That way they can keep their own billions in the bank and if something looks promising in the future they can figure out a way to privatize the profits.
After all, if Bill Gates wants $3 billion for stem cell research, all he has to do use some of the change his laundress finds in his pockets before she throws his pants in the washer. The same can be said for Brad Pitt, Michael J. Fox, Edward James Olmos, Dustin Hoffman,Nancy Reagan, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver and all the rest of the Kennedy clan.
Multimillionaire real estate developer Bob Klein is one of the leaders of the campaign for Proposition 71. He says, “California has the opportunity, uniquely, to change the future of human suffering.”
I asked him why he and the other people supporting the ballot measure weren’t spending their own money on the research.
“We need long-term funding that only the public can really provide,” Klein said.
But THEY have the money. Gates wouldn’t even notice it. It’s $3 billion out of the $40 billion he has. Why does the government always have to do it?
“As a democracy,” Klein said, “we vote for public schools and everyone contributes tax dollars to public schools. What we’re doing is really no different. We’re trying to bring society together.”
Bringing society together sounds so nice, but it’s force. Government is force. Voluntary contributions to charity bring people together for the public good.
Spoken like a true libertarian, John.
Force is divisive. When majorities use government to force their will upon minorities, it is inevitably divisive.
It is the growth in government, promoted by both Democrats and Republicans, and the resulting growth in the use of force by Americans against each other, that is tearing our country apart.
It also should be noted that the pro-Propositon 71 camp has raised about $12 million to fund the campaign. The opposition campaign has raised only $15,000.
If the billionaires and millionaires beind Proposition 71 win, they get to force the taxpayers to give their cause $3 billion in money that has to be borrowed and later paid back with $6 billion. Spending $12 million to get back $3 billion is a very good investment indeed. No wonder some of the richest people in the country are behind Proposition 71.
It looks like California voters are about to make them all a lot richer.