The Mark(ings) of Zorro

The Mark(ings) of Zorro

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken

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What's the Matter with Kansas?

Monday, March 03, 2003

by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

It's about time
Perhaps the greatest malady to afflict the American soul in the past thirty years has been the turn inward. Beginning in World War II, America saw itself as a nation, a people, with a mission. Our first mission was to save the world from the scourge of fascism and genocide represented by Hitler and certain ruling elements in Japan. After the war, we transferred our holy mission to that of saving the world from the scourge of godless communism, and we added a couple grace notes: civil rights for all and the exploration of the next great frontier.

Unfortunately, of those three great missions, only one came close to fruition--we did get to the moon which was our initial goal in the exploration of space. (We did not save the world from communism; it mainly rotted from within and collapsed because it could not compete economically with the West. Civil rights and a prejudice free society are still works in progress.) However, once we reached the moon, we drew back from the next steps. This link: TCS: Tech - Space Odyssey is a worthwhile read in this regard. At least it is a start in the debate about where we go next.

I remember going to see 2001: A Space Odyssey in the late 60s and being entranced with the idea of Pan Am running regular flights to an orbiting city which was the gateway to the moon and beyond. Well people, 2001 was a couple years ago, and the vision turned out to be too optimistic. It was not, however, the technology which failed us, it was our will and our drive. We need to get both of them back.

Which brings me to my next hope: I would really like to see either Japan or China send people into space from their own facilities. If that happened, you would see our conservative politicians suddenly begin screaming for a renewed American presence in space. Meanwhile, since most major land masses on this planet are already spoken for, space seems to be the ideal way for China and/or Japan to gain a little liebenstraum (spelling??). Actually, it makes sense for China. A push to send a couple hundred thousand colonists a year to habitats in space would occupy their people and give the government something to use as both a goad and an incentive. Think about it...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005

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