Newt Gingrich has received considerable ridicule and flack for his statement that we would have a permanent base on the Moon by the end of his second term as President, and when the Moon attained 13,000 permanent settlers, it could become another U.S. state.
I say, good for Gingrich for thinking so big. We need more of that. One of the reasons our efforts in space have stagnated is because no one after JFK had the requisite vision to see us get off this planet in a sustained way.
The fact is that we are citizens of the cosmos, not just this Earth. We'll never truly understand who we are, what we're doing here, from a vantage point stuck down here on this planet. Carl Sagan got this. Isaac Asimov understood this. Unfortunately, not enough politicians and Presidents.
Although I expect to vote for Barack Obama in this election, as I did in 2008, I was never happy with his weak position on space. Obama has been no better on space than his predecessors after JFK, and in some ways worse.
Conversely, I'm not likely to vote for Gingrich (though, if I were a Republican, I would over Romney). I get that he's presumtuous about the second term. I get that he's grandiose. But sometimes, as in the grandeur of space, that could be a good thing.
I say, good for Gingrich for thinking so big. We need more of that. One of the reasons our efforts in space have stagnated is because no one after JFK had the requisite vision to see us get off this planet in a sustained way.
The fact is that we are citizens of the cosmos, not just this Earth. We'll never truly understand who we are, what we're doing here, from a vantage point stuck down here on this planet. Carl Sagan got this. Isaac Asimov understood this. Unfortunately, not enough politicians and Presidents.Although I expect to vote for Barack Obama in this election, as I did in 2008, I was never happy with his weak position on space. Obama has been no better on space than his predecessors after JFK, and in some ways worse.
Conversely, I'm not likely to vote for Gingrich (though, if I were a Republican, I would over Romney). I get that he's presumtuous about the second term. I get that he's grandiose. But sometimes, as in the grandeur of space, that could be a good thing.
3 comments:
The volume of coordinated attacks on Newt today by his own party should let eveyone know he is not the establishment favorite. What is funny is that they're accusing him of being as anti-Reagan as they all were way back then. At any rate, Gingrich has "the vision thing" in spades, but I expect him to be drowned by the dull-witted doofs who control the GOP these days.
Mostly agreed - especially about the dull-witted doofs (who are also in big supply, vis-a-vis space, in progressive media).
But if Gingrich pulls out a Florida win, he could well get the nom. He needs to be more aggressive than he was on Monday in tonight's debate (as many have observed).
The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president. ~ Author Unknown
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