Quote Originally Posted by slowthestone
Someone...please...anyone...tell me why these sort of society changing opportunities are not voted on by the people?
Because our government does not practice democracy in any meaningful sense. The vast majority of decisions are made by bureaucrats or at best elected representatives who work in their own self-interests. It is naïve to think that elected representatives will always do what the people want when there is no requirement that they be held accountable for enforcing positions that the populace disagrees with.

Governments like power; they need power. If every decision was made by the people as a whole, there would be no need for power or government; people could manage their own lives, and make decisions on their own. In order for a government to survive, it needs to be able to give orders and have people follow them. If the government has the power to ban things, by golly it will start banning things, because that's what governments are made for—restricting freedoms, imposing authority and writing rules. If the government has nothing else to do or needs to distract people from other matters, it will start to come up with new rules for people to follow, based on the interests of its leaders. The legislators have to do something or else it looks like they're not doing anything productive (which they aren't!). With so many prominent Christian wackos in our government, it's no surprise that this religion-based stem cell research ban would make the top priorities.