5/21/2005
How the US is falling into the research gap
Thanks to the polices of George W Bush, the US is falling or rather has fallen into a huge gap in life saving research. Through out the Cold War our nation took great pains, often with leaders every bit as conservative as Bush, to remain at the forefront in medical, military, and general scientific research. They did this because it was crucial to American survival. It is no less crucial today. We need every single technology we can to help our nations vitality. With the War on Terror, unstable neighbors in Mexico and Venezuela, in the face of the danger of open warfare with the worlds most populous nation, we can not now, nor ever afford to throw away a single advantage. One of the many fruits of the Cold War was that America built an educational system that allowed us to have the finest medical and scientific researchers in the world. Every year thousands upon thousands of people travel to America for medical treatment. This not only reaffirms the gentle giant image America likes to portray, it helps our economy. The flights to the US, the medical services, housing for the families, every place else these visitors spend money go right into our economy. In the past two days, two nations have made strides where Bush would have us hide. On Thursday British scientists announced a successful reproduction of embryonic stem cells, it was followed a day later by South Korean scientists making a similar announcement. This is not good for America. With breakthrough's like this coming from other nations it threatens our ability to attract foreign cash flows, not just for medical purposes but it could put a stopper in the spigot of cash flowing into our higher educational institutes.
In short, polices like Bush's stance on stem cell research, which is no more than pandering to the far right, hurt America. They sacrifice the health, wealth, and happiness to an ideal that is held by only a few members of our society on the far right.
