CGS-authored
If Proposition 71, the $3 billion bond initiative for stem cell research, is approved by California voters at Tuesday's election, it would prove again how bad policy begets yet more bad policy. It also would be another sign that even the left has given up on the ability and wisdom of elected government to function properly.
The initial bad policy is the Bush administration's prohibition on federal funding for virtually all such research. The promise of cures for a host of debilitating and often fatal diseases - diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's - should give it the highest priority.
It's also understandable that some California voters will be tempted to use the measure as a way to stick their thumb in the president's eye. But is a voter initiative in one state - a state already burdened by heavy deficits - the best way to deal with an issue as complex as this? The total cost of the bonds, counting interest, is $6 billion.
California has tried to behave like a sovereign nation before. A generation ago, Gov. Jerry Brown even proposed...
The initial bad policy is the Bush administration's prohibition on federal funding for virtually all such research. The promise of cures for a host of debilitating and often fatal diseases - diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's - should give it the highest priority.
It's also understandable that some California voters will be tempted to use the measure as a way to stick their thumb in the president's eye. But is a voter initiative in one state - a state already burdened by heavy deficits - the best way to deal with an issue as complex as this? The total cost of the bonds, counting interest, is $6 billion.
California has tried to behave like a sovereign nation before. A generation ago, Gov. Jerry Brown even proposed...