The Politics of Stem Cells

Two weeks ago, George Bush had rebounded to 40% in several public opinion polls. The hemorrhaging appeared to have been quelled and it appeared as though he turned a corner. It was later that week that Bush pointed a Texas-sized revolver at his foot and squeezed the trigger when he used his veto pen for the first time in five and a half years in office on a wildly popular bill to fund embryonic stem cell research. In the last 10 days, Bush's poll numbers have dropped back into the mid-30's. I doubt it's a coincidence and I don't suspect the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is contributing to the decline since that's the one issue where Bush is getting high marks for his performance.

At least on the surface, it appears the Democrats finally have a social wedge issue to exploit at the polls. By a 2-1 margin, the public isn't buying into the deranged conservative position that clusters of cells represent aborted human life, and should be thrown away rather than used in scientific research that could conceivably cure diseases. Expect the Dems to demagogue this issue mercilessly in an effort to seize upon just how delusional the position of Bush and his hard-right enablers is and how it's only succeeding in outsourcing key scientific research to other nations of the world whose governments aren't straitjacketed by misguided puritanism.

I'm nothing close to an expert on the science of this issue, but my fear is that the Dems are allowing stem-cell research advocates to oversell the public health windfall that this research has the potential of bestowing upon us. Just as I find it unsavory that the Republicans continue to campaign on anti-abortion sentiment every two years even though the majority of them have no interest in seeing Roe vs. Wade overturned, I would be just as appalled if the Democrats exploited the voting public by convincing them that Aunt Gertrude's cancer can be cured by stem cell research if there is little evidence to suggest that will happen. I'm in no position to suggest that is or is not the case, but time should tell if the hype surrounding stem cell research has merit. If stem cell research ends up being like the MDA telethon, where $60 million is raised every Labor Day with the assurance that "a cure is right around the corner", I suspect there will be a backlash by a public convinced they've been sold snake oil.

Lastly, there's a cold financial calculation that should be taken into account here, but will not be because of political correctness. This country, along with most of the civilized world, faces a demographic crunch of rising life expectancy and declining birth rates that is poised to bankrupt us in the 21st century. If stem cell research lives up to the hype and results in the elimination of countless diseases, the pace of imminent bankruptcy would accelerate. This is by no means an endorsement on my part to cease and desist with vital stem cell research, but it's an issue that deserves to be raised since it threatens the standard of living of citizens throughout the globe. At some point, would it not be more prudent to accept basic laws of human mortality than to continually press forward with our obsessive, yet futile, quest to attain eternal life?