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Andy Reed's avatar

Two big problems with this view:

1) The United States in 1957 was in the midst of a boom that grew out of the Depression and World War II. That boom included 91% marginal tax rates on the wealthiest, substantial corporate tax rates, and an American public that was well educated, motivated, confident, and proud of the fact that our nation was the only one in the world in which a middle class populace could claim at least 50% of the total. The superwealthy were marginalized to make room for upward mobility, and even the working poor faced some opportunities to grow out of poverty and into some level of comfort, if not prosperity.

We had a true war hero as president, an unpretentious, modest, yet deeply principled man who had become a war hero by rising through the ranks of a meritocracy. We had Congressional leaders and even a Supreme Court that actually believed in the United States Constitution. And we had a foe that was, in fact, our enemy in the truest sense of the word.

But most of all, we had the self-confidence of a nation that had, in conjunction with our allies, defeated the most concentrated collection of evil that the world had seen.

2) We now have as president a cowardly bully who has no interest in the welfare of the nation, only the well-being of his personal fortune. He is surrounded by a group of fascists who imagine themselves to be the politburo for a new, permanent governing regime, and who, like their putative "boss," are interested only in their power and wealth.

Their supporters -- 1/3 of Americans -- are not proud, happy warriors or successful, upwardly mobile citizens. They are not citizens, but subjects, capable only of destructive acts: uneducated, ignorant, bitter, self-obsessed, resentful, and utterly unpatriotic. These MAGA men and women fantasize about two things only: joining the ranks of the wealthy who despise and use them, and wreaking revenge on the remains of the successful, moderate, progressive, patriotic middle class who want only to live in a normal nation under normal leadership.

Thus, if President Xi decided to announce his intention of being first to land a human on Mars, the response would be bluster from the White House followed by a contract with the drug-addicted illegal immigrant Elon Musk to take on the challenge. And we all know what the outcome of that would be: promises made, trillions of dollars from our treasury making their way from our pockets to his, while rockets exploded, competent scientists are drummed out for lack of loyalty, and the Chinese -- joined by decent nations around the globe -- laugh at the poor, pathetic Americans imagining that they can be on the cutting edge of this race.

We have reached a point, under this regime, that the Soviet world reached long ago: a laughingstock with no future but a corrupt, end-of-the-republic collapse into tyranny. We are Rome: we're just waiting to see whether we get an emperor in name only, or in fact.

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Tvinetz's avatar

I shall assume you are kidding... a very silly idea. Why would China/Xi do that!? Don't think they are interested in Mars. That is a Musk level misconception. China attempting to take over Taiwan would be a much more reliable, probable, and definitive motivating factor. Think how the US and Allies responded to WW2. But then we had the industrial power, materials, and capability to create our economic engine. The incompetence of Trump as President and Hegseth as Secretary of Defense is manifest. China could read the war strategy and planning hacking Hegseth's What app posts (or his wife's). Much more probable, plausible, and likely. And much more to gain.

A race to Mars with China would save America???? Let's get serious and do something that helps this Earth and its inhabitants to survive rather than conceptualizing a "space race" to monetize asteroids.

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