Dear Editor:
As an orthodox Catholic, I find much that is
disagreeable in the standard Left/Right,
Liberal/Conservative political ideologies. There is a
greater vision for America, and we have only to look
to our past to find some keys to our better future.
I am inspired by such policy initiatives as the New
Deal, the Manhattan Project, the Marshall Plan, and
the Apollo project. The New Deal brought the
government into the hands of those more interested in
the common good, than the special interests of amoral
financial speculators, and greed-driven elites.
Government, churches and charities all have a role to
play in addressing the rights of all people to live a
life worth living.
The Manhattan Project had an immoral end of developing
a nuclear weapon, but it represents the idea that the
government has a key role to play in bringing together
the greatest minds in the world. In today’s money, a
like Project would cost us $20 billion. Imagine if we
gathered the world’s best researchers to work on
perfecting energy technologies such as nuclear
fission/fusion, or any number of brilliant
possibilities that would take us beyond fossil fuels,
with no corporate conglomerates putting their
interests above ours and our nation’s.
Combine the Marshall Plan with the Apollo Project, and
we could have an America that is leading the world
with a Science-driver global economy. With the
current World Bank/IMF model, the wealthy countries
are simply robbing the poorer ones, exploiting their
cheaper labor and resources to benefit a relative few.
Tourist and service economies are dead ends. We
need to direct monies into such things as intelligent
infrastructure investment to improve the material
lives of people all over the world- especially the
poor and vulnerable, and also our own nation’s
diminished industrial base. We need to unite the
world around awe-inspiring goals, like space
exploration and colonization, with a keen eye to
applying the knowledge gained in such research to our
global/earthly concerns for human and environmental
ecologies.
I don’t think it benefits America to hold
anti-business, anti-labor union, or anti-government
attitudes. We need strong businesses and unions, we
need a strong government to provide the juridical
framework for all such interests to work together for
the common good. Political leaders should also be the
ones who have the larger vision for society as a
whole. I believe that we can hitch our economy to the
infinite by pursuing the dream of space colonization.
This is not an- either we invest in the needy people
here on earth now, or we throw money at frivolous
space conquests. I see it as a both/and scenario,
where infrastructure improvements, research and
development, go hand in hand with rising global living
standards for all who are willing to work, and the
physical environment is improved. We can overcome the
evils of our age by winning back the hearts and minds
of the world as we demonstrate our good works and good
will – that is if we still believe in such things.
Yours,
Timothy Shipe
www.timshipe.com