Presidential hopeful Ron Paul’s new proposal to slash federal spending would wipe out large chunks of the government’s research portfolio. …
I would certainly hope so.
Personally, I don’t find it appropriate to put a gun to my neighbor’s head and rob him in the name of “science research” (even assuming it was properly spent, which would be tremendously generous to the lumbering and corrupt bureaucratic apparatus that is government). And I further don’t find it any more appropriate to employ others, namely agents of the state, to rob him on my behalf.
But Ron Paul…
First, taxation is not robbery, taxation is part of the social contract, the dues we pay to maintain and expand our society. If you don’t like paying taxes, you are (as I’ve pointed out frequently) free to get the fuck out of the country; Somaila or seasteading are two of your many relocation options.
Second, not all scientific avenues yield positive results, but we usually can’t know in advance which avenues are dead ends without pursuing them. Privately-funded science, which is all about turning a quick profit, won’t research possible dead ends since they may not yield a monetary return on investment, and will abandon promising research when the ROI won’t be realized for years or decades. Government funding is not constrained by such greed, as the aim of government-funded research is humanitarian. Being an inhuman sociopath, I can see why these facts escape or don’t interest you.
Third, as this article points out: “An additional advantage to government sponsored research is that the results are publicly shared, whereas with privately funded research the ideas are controlled by a single group. Consequently, government sponsored research can result in mass collaborative projects that are beyond the scope of isolated private researchers.” Beyond the scope, and yielding more and better discoveries.
Fourth, politicians don’t solely rely on lobbyists for an understanding of the things that the government must lobby, the government has its own experts to check with you right-wing Paulbot simpleton.
(Source: anticapitalist)
