Liberals and Their Ill-Liberal Policies

I am sometimes baffled by my fellow liberals in their social priorities. Why, for instance, does stem cell research receive such political support, and money, while many more pressing needs exist in this country? At the same time that the ballot initiative in California won $3 billion in state bonds to initiate a stem cell research program, the media there was reporting that there are 2.5 million illiterate adults in that state. There is plenty of experience on successfully teaching adults to read, plenty of evidence that an adult illiterate has an almost hopeless economic future in this country, and plenty of evidence that a literate citizenry makes a far greater economic and social contribution than an illiterate one. The best that can be said for stem cell research is that it is _promising._ In New Jersey, the aim is to raise $300 million for a stem cell project. New Jersey is home to the city of Camden, one of the poorest and most crime-ridden cities in the country. It could make better use of that kind of money.

I...