The Benefits of Stem Cell Research, and a Rant

The article: http://news.yahoo.com/doctors-lab-made-windpipe-transplant-173306156.html

Seriously, guys, have we forgotten Christopher Reeve already? A perfect example of how stem cell research can be used in a positive, beneficial manner to help all of the human species. I wonder how much of a recession can be blamed on Bush banning stem cell research, even if only a fraction of a percentage? Obama has thankfully reversed that decision, but we are now years behind one of the less important (no offense) countries in the European Union - Sweden. This transplant did not take place in one of many prestigious U.S. hospitals, which for decades have been the foci of leading-edge medical research and practice. No, instead it took place Sweden.

I honestly mean no offense to Sweden. I've never been there, but I would love to visit. My family is Scandinavian. I'm sure they are a pleasant bunch of folk just like everyone else.

But SWEDEN??!!! What the hell has happened when the U.S. finds itself being beaten by France in health care, South Korea (?!) in education, Sweden in stem cell research and implantation. . . . I'd go on but I'm embarrassed enough.

Sweden. And South Korea in education. And we wonder why this country can seem to shake the shadows of recession and is still scared of the boogyman Depression.

Clearly there is something wrong with this country, but a disease down to the very core. These are cultural ills that must be excised. That will be painful, possibly as painful as the Civil War, maybe even more so.

I visited Europe recently. Watching CNN and the BBC, I noticed that the rest of the world seems to have realized that the U.S. has fallen from its economic perch and other countries have moved on accordingly. It is only in the U.S. do we cling to this ghost of an idea that we are superior in all things. We aren't. It's time to get over it.

Let's put our resources behind things that matter, like stem cell research, fixing tax legislation, regulating the financial sector effectively, abolishing the current FDA and putting in people who aren't former employees of the very companies they are supposed to be regulating so our food supply isn't unsafe. . . I could go on, but I'm working on it. I'll let you know when I'm ready.

I have a dream for the U.S. I want trend-setting, record-breaking, newsworthy technological advances like this to be set in the U.S., not Sweden. I want the world's best healthcare in the U.S., not France. I want the world's best education in the U.S., not South Korea.

I'm about action not talk. Do the research. Educate yourself. Then go vote for the guy who will support what you believe in, and if you can't find a guy who believes in what you believe in, run for office yourself.