"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." (full text of the speech here)
Why did he set such an audacious goal, and how could he possibly hope to achieve it? There was clearly a political motive. The Soviets had beaten the United States in both the first satellite and the first man into space. The Soviets had clearly taken the world by surprise in their conquest of space, and we were in a game of catch up.
I have a hard time playing the achievement off as purely a political move. Perhaps it's just that the times are so different now, but looking back I have a hard time thinking that Kennedy's plan was just a cold war chess move. I like to think of it in a little more romantic way. I think of it as a leader who pressed the nation to unite behind a goal, and make sacrifices to ensure that the goal is met.
That thought, the unity of our people behind a singular goal, is the reason for this post. I'm not sure if it's our vision less leaders, or the sad lemmings that are the populace that are to blame, but somewhere this country lost the ability to create and execute a vision. I'm speaking about our continued reliance on oil, and the lack of any plan to quench the ever growing obsession for it. It's a problem that is universally recognized, but no one seems to have a good plan for solving. President Bush acknowledged our countries "addiction" to oil, and his suggestion has been to drill for more in Alaska. A suggestion that seems akin to giving heroin to a heroin addict without a treatment plan, but there really haven't been any other suggestions that make any more sense or really take on the problem. Frankly, whether Democrat or Republican, none of our leaders suggestions make much long term sense. So what should we do?
I suggest that the best course is to set a national agenda to free ourselves from our oil addiction. I think our leaders need to stop looking at ways to cover up the problem, and instead provide incentives to solve the problem. I'm not suggesting that government create the solution, but rather that the government create the vision and the incentives. The free market will solve the problem if given the opportunity and the incentive.
So what am I suggesting? It's simple... I suggest that our leaders make the commitment that within 10 years we are completely free of the need for foreign oil. That incentives are created to ensure that every American can replace their petroleum addiction with a more practical more sustainable energy source. And finally... that our leaders are held to account for making that vision into a reality. It's a tough challenge, but one that this country is up to facing. I'd like to think that the descendants of the veterans of WWII, and the children of the scientists who got NASA to the moon might like a challenge of their own. A challenge that perhaps in 50 years or 100 our descendants will look back on and marvel at our ingenuity and tenacity in solving.
- ND
