“If you had $147,000 to spend on scientific research, would you rather try to find a cure for cancer or see whether women get sexually aroused while watching pornography?”The answers could scare me, but it is just one of many important studies where we the taxpayers have paid the bill.
I am wondering if the Enumerated Powers Act were passed, how such appropriations as these would fare. In case you are not aware of this Act (S. 3159/H.R.1359), it requires Congress to “specify the source of authority under the United States Constitution for the enactment of laws.”
While studying the sexual arousal of women under the influence of pornography might be an interesting assignment, it would quite a stretch to assign a Constitutional reference for its purpose.
Marc Abrahams explains:
"In order to get hired, in order to keep your job and to get promoted, you have to publish a lot of studies," Abrahams said. "There are an awful lot of studies that were done apparently because somebody needed to get some more things on their resume."Mr. Abrahams is editor of a website called Improbable Research, and it seems as though the United States is not the only country with this academia problem. Researchers in Indian (inspired by a similar study conducted in Wisonsin), have determined that most teenagers pick their noses.
What would we do without these gems of knowledge? And, more importantly, what could we as a country do with the money if spent elsewhere?
2 comments:
The problem is that it would quickly become apparant that 90% of the laws would be put in the "general welfare" clause.
Would this fit? By as much as the Air Force or Coast Guard fit into the Constitution. They are not mentioned either, although the Army and Navy are, and would, of course, continue to be funded. The Marines, being under the Navy, would also continue to be funded, but there is nothing in the Constitution authorizing a seperate Air Force.
The argument, of course, is ridiculous, but it would be repeated for just about every expenditure we make. You can't have the flexibility to fund the AF and than want it tightened up to exclude a study like this.
I guess common sense is out of the question. Business as usual.
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