Benedict Arlen Defames the Late Jack Kemp

Arlen Specter, also known as Benedict Arlen and Specter the Defector, has crossed the line.

He dared to "Face the Nation" on Sunday to declare that Jack Kemp, the beloved conservative Republican warrior, would be alive today if the GOP had embraced more liberal health care policies.

"If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today. And that research has saved or prolonged many lives, including mine."

This is the same Arlen Specter who has never stood for anything much more than his own re-election.

Specter's statement is arrogant and unprovable.

Why, you might ask?

It is arrogant to believe that medical breakthroughs only take place when they are financed and directed by Big Government. The history of medical research is full of serendipitous discoveries by doctors and scientists who were "on their own" so to speak. Much of what has been discovered in the United States has come through privately funded research, some of it through foundations, a great deal of it by firms motivated by the potential for profit. This is not to say that those doing the research are heartless bastards only interested in money. On the contrary, it is the beneficial blend of compassion and commerce. It is one reason why the U.S. stands shoulders above other countries in its record of scientific discovery.

Not because the federal government got involved.

You hear a lot of talk amongst "progressives" about how we need to get politics out of science, and yet we are stampeding toward full government involvement (and control) of scientific research. When Uncle Sugar becomes the 8,000 pound gorilla in the laboratory, we will discover that very little will be accomplished without political consideration. That's what fools like Arlen Specter will give us.

NASA -- your government space program -- recently said that it may scrap plans to establish a manned lunar base, instead concentrating its efforts on a manned flight to Mars. I'm sure some people were jumping for joy to hear this. What they do not realize is that without the moon base, there may not be a manned Mars mission, or at least a prolonged Mars effort. The moon is the next logical step for it has resources that can be used as the leaping off point.

What NASA is saying is that our space program is brain dead. There is no brave leadership, only a culture of scientific bureaucrats whose political antennae twitch with every change in the Washington winds. They know full well that with the emphasis on massive multi-trillion dollar social programs, there will be no serious future missions. Hell, we can't even replace our aging space shuttle fleet!

That's government science for you.

If I could speak to Mr. Specter right now, I would say, "Prove it, Arlen. Show us the proof that Jack Kemp would be alive right now, if only Big Government had been allowed to save him." But there is no proof for a statement like that.

Worse, Specter's words insult the memory of a good man.

Jack Kemp, God rest his soul, would have been about the last person to argue for socialist science. He was compassionate, yes, but he was also a great champion of free market economics and principles. Jack Kemp was a proud Republican, and for Arlen Specter to invoke his name, his death, as justification for his own traitorous, cowardly conduct, is beyond despicable.