angelatc
11-20-2008, 07:05 AM
I can't find the original thread! BUt this guy gave us a Road Map For A GOP Recovery.
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20081117/COLUMNS/811179970/1026/NONE&parentprofile=1058&title=Liddick:%20Road%20map%20for%20a%20GOP%20reco very
I wrote and scolded him, and here's what he sent back to me. Bolding is mine.
Thanks for your note - but I must disagree.
Science and technological development is no longer a matter of people like Edison and Rutherford working alone. It requires enormous expenditure and vast effort; that's why our model of government/university/private research has been the most successful in the world, until recently - as funding began to fade. Most materials in common use today, from high-tensile-strength carbon fibers to memory metals to LED screens, are products of this. If you don't see the utility of it, it's because you aren't looking.
As to transportation, yes - there is a role for the states, but it pales against the national interest in having an integrated and smoothly-functioning transport net - essential for efficient industrial production as well as for personal convenience. This principle has been well-known since 17th century France, England and Holland, and has not changed since. Try living and working in a country with an inefficient net if you don't believe me - I have.
As to education, the historical record in this country is once again against you - under Theodore Roosevelt and his two successors, the "Bully Pulpit" was used to push for a modernized education which integrated learning and acculturation - and made us the envy of the world. It is a model for which we should push again; the issues we face now are not dissimilar.
On illegal immigration, if you expect New Mexico to effectively curb what California will not, well... I'd like to know both how, and why. Details would be useful on that part of the argument.
In short, wise people do not have a pathalogical fear of taxes, nor of national government. Our Constitution was written by men who saw the wisdom of the wise use of both - and we should emulate their example.
Regards, M.
I told him to get out of our party.
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20081117/COLUMNS/811179970/1026/NONE&parentprofile=1058&title=Liddick:%20Road%20map%20for%20a%20GOP%20reco very
I wrote and scolded him, and here's what he sent back to me. Bolding is mine.
Thanks for your note - but I must disagree.
Science and technological development is no longer a matter of people like Edison and Rutherford working alone. It requires enormous expenditure and vast effort; that's why our model of government/university/private research has been the most successful in the world, until recently - as funding began to fade. Most materials in common use today, from high-tensile-strength carbon fibers to memory metals to LED screens, are products of this. If you don't see the utility of it, it's because you aren't looking.
As to transportation, yes - there is a role for the states, but it pales against the national interest in having an integrated and smoothly-functioning transport net - essential for efficient industrial production as well as for personal convenience. This principle has been well-known since 17th century France, England and Holland, and has not changed since. Try living and working in a country with an inefficient net if you don't believe me - I have.
As to education, the historical record in this country is once again against you - under Theodore Roosevelt and his two successors, the "Bully Pulpit" was used to push for a modernized education which integrated learning and acculturation - and made us the envy of the world. It is a model for which we should push again; the issues we face now are not dissimilar.
On illegal immigration, if you expect New Mexico to effectively curb what California will not, well... I'd like to know both how, and why. Details would be useful on that part of the argument.
In short, wise people do not have a pathalogical fear of taxes, nor of national government. Our Constitution was written by men who saw the wisdom of the wise use of both - and we should emulate their example.
Regards, M.
I told him to get out of our party.