Four Years Late

In response to the federal government refusing to fund stem cell research with taxpayer dollars, California decided to fund its own research with California taxpayer dollars. In true democratic fashion, it was put to a direct vote to the people in 2004 and a fraction of Californians decided it was a good idea to put everyone in the state on the hook for $3 billion in bonds. A number of people pointed out the inherent conflict-of-interest built into the proposal: scientists who do research on stem cells in the state (and are therefore among those seeking funding) are the ones who decide who gets the funding.

Four years later, this decision-making structure is being reviewed. Of course, since this is all theft and redistribution, there is no solution to this problem short of getting the government out of the research business.

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3:52 pm on September 30, 2008