Noted: "A Noteworthy Purchase of Votes"

From BetterHumans, the Kurzweil blog:

News
A Noteworthy Purchase of Votes
(From NY1). It should be no new news that public funds are used to buy votes, but it is noteworthy, to me at least, that the battle over directing taxes poured into the trough to embryonic stem cell research has settled this far: “He’s calling for a $2 billion state fund for stem cell and other medical research. … Spitzer’s taking the issue directly to the voters, following in the footsteps of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who sought and got a $3 billion program through a voter referendum. … If we want to lead healthy lives, live longer, and make sure we can help people, we have to advance science. And stem cell research is one of those branches of medicine that really holds great promise.” In other words, ambitious political operators believe that huge public works for stem cell research will buy votes now, regardless of results or follow-through down the line. This would seem to suggest high levels of enthusiasm in the public at large for major advances in the fight against age-related disease (if not for a sane socioeconomic system to live in or the freedom and drive that effective research requires).
(emphasis mine)

I’m pleasantly surprised at the nerve of this post and that someone has pointed out the truth. The author does recognize that similar ideas can occur to people with different views of”sane”
socieconomic systems and motivations – which is another notion that I’m gratified to see in print.