Getting statism from a lump of cells

So, Bush used his veto pen for the first time his entire reign. Supposedly, if you listen to the media portrayal, he did it to oppose embryonic stem cell research, which he thinks is morally no different than murder. If you agree with him on that, chances are you aren’t reading this, or you stopped right now. If you don’t, then you probably reacted to the veto with something like this:

An administration that has shown itself over and over again to have trouble telling the truth is now telling Americans in wheelchairs, those with damaged hearts, babies who are diabetic and those left immobile by Parkinsonism not to worry. The president, whose grasp of science left him unable to identify creationism as a fundamentally religious idea, and his trusty sidekick Karl Rove, rarely seen in a white lab coat but who knows something about rats, having been in Washington for some time now, claim to know best which medical research is most likely to benefit diseased Americans in the future.

Now, within the narrow spectra seen as “mainstream opinion”, this is understandable reaction. If you think the research requires public government funding or it simply will not be done, then of course you’re angry! Why, he’s standing in the way of scientific progress!

Problem is, “mainstream opinion” on this is yet another example of where government interference encourages lying to ourselves.

Here’s some facts: the lack of federal funding does not translate to a block on the research. it can still be (and already is to an extent) done at lower levels, and — wait for it — by private means. Also, the embryos referred to are leftovers from fertility clinics, and whether used for research or not the majority of them will be destroyed anyway. As such, no “life” is being saved by Bush’s veto.

I saw something rather illuminating the other day in the course of reading news about this online: there was this article about how an evangelical group formed a foundation that “adopts” unused embryos from fertility clinics and saves them for later use. Far as I know, it is a completely private endeavor. Along with this type of action, there exist private means of doing the embryonic stem-cell research. So the problem is obvious: “it’s the government, stupid.”

This issue is a prime example of where statism turns issues of personal morality into tribal political wars. Because of the status-quo of funding scientific research through tax dollars, it pits religious folks & pro-science types against each other, fighting over crumbs. Though culturally I couldn’t possibly be more “liberal” (IMO the only thing we should be “old-school” about as a culture is disciplining children), I understand the point of view of the religious types on this: they see themselves as potentially being forced to pay for acts they see as reprehensible. I just wish they would extend that logic to things like war & the “Patriot” Act…