Elitist whining on behalf of "Joe Scientist's" funding

Glenn McGee, the editor of The American Journal of Bioethics, a professor of Medical Ethics at Albany (New York) Medical School, and the blogger at blog.bioethics.net, has a column at The Scientist that typifies bioethic reasoning. It seems that scientists have a right to our tax dollars as seed money for whatever enterprise they want to start.

Dr. McGee forgets that "the people" elect the Legislature and the Executive Branch to make decisions on our behalf. Many of those decisions disperse tax funds that are taken from our salaries.

Why doesn't Dr. McGee complain that more money is not spent in the private sector or donated by philanthropists and others with a particular interest in a given realm of research? Instead, he wants the IRS to take more of your money for "Joe Scientist's" benefit. We all know that the government does not profit from patents that are the result of research, but he believes that you and I owe Joe a living, no matter what Joe wants to do. (I'd prefer to cut more funding from all levels of government. The Federal level is involved in too many areas and should stick with defense, transportation, and being the Court of last resort, in my humble opinion. Leave the rest to private associations and the States.)

Be sure and take a look at the comments at the blog.bioethics.net posting of part of the column. And don't forget that the posts are censored.