Of course I did not like everything he said.I didn't like his defense of the TPP. I am not going to elaborate about it. Most people know the objections to that. I will elaborate on this other thing he talked about. This was the single most disappointing thing he said.
Anyone who has kept up with my writings know what I think needs to be done for the future of Humanity. Just for them who don't I'll repeat it here because I think this subject is extremely important. I think our nation needs to commit to a massive national effort to exploit and industrialize the moon and asteroid belt, and to colonize the moon and Mars.
When the President got to the part of his speech dealing with how creative our corporate citizens are, and the "spirit of innovation", my ears perked up. He started mentioning Sputnik, and how that spurred us on to put human beings on the moon. Then a list of innovators and discoverers who changed our civilization forever. I was getting excited. Will he say the words I wanted to hear to make a national commitment for real human advancement?
No! He did not. In the end he totally disappointed me by playing to politics with a feel good program that is not going to be an effective solution for stimulating the real innovative spirit of Americans. He said "...let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all." Then he put Joe Biden in charge of it. I about dropped when he said those words. My spirit was crushed.
I've got tons of respect for Mr. Biden. I feel greatly for him, and for the loss of his son to cancer. Still I can not agree with Obama's cancer idea. I can only think he is giving a feel good speech at that point in his speech, and especially so when he passed the ball to Biden.
There may be people who think I am a cruel person for not supporting Obama's cancer words. What could be more noble and desirable than curing cancer? I want that too, but what Mr. Obama said, what he wants is not the solution for reviving American innovation. I am a cancer survivor myself. I've lost loved ones to that dreaded disease. There's not many things I would like to see more than a cure to cancer, but we have to be realistic about this.
Our species has been at war with cancer for quite a while now. I personally do not think we'll ever eliminate cancer. We will one day be able to cure all people who come down with cancer, but people will continue to come down with cancer. Besides that, cancer research and treatment is a very small section of our overall economy. Pouring money into cancer research will not be an effective stimulant for the overall economy, or innovative spirit of America.
What I wanted him to say, what I hoped with all my heart that he would say was not mentioned at all. The real solution to our species problems. A commitment to a massive national effort to exploit and industrialize the moon and asteroid belt, and to colonize the moon and Mars. He did not take the bold action that our nation needs to lift humanity to the next stage of our advancement. Instead he offered politics as usual.
Let me repeat myself. If our nation can commit $16 trillion of the people's money to bailing out Wall Street criminals, and corrupt bankers, we can make the same commitment to a massive national effort to exploit and industrialize the moon and asteroid belt, and to colonize the moon and Mars. $16 trillion is enough to fund 91 Apollo size programs from start to finish. It is enough to build over 700 Orion spacecraft. That type of commitment would put 34 million humans worldwide to work in factories and business. It would solve problems both economic and social. In fact, we will not solve the most pressing problems of humanity without moving on to the cosmos. We must do this.
Instead we are offered flowers by our President. That's why I was crushed. I was let down. There are solutions to our problems, but as usual our leaders pander to political forces, and take the path of expediency. It is as if they are afraid to take the path of real human greatness. Sort of like the first time off the high dive. One day you have to jump, or just climb back down the ladder in defeat. That's what our leader did when he handed America the cancer cure feel good speal. He once again backed away from the edge of greatness, and climbed back down the ladder of advancement.
For more on why I think our nation needs to make a commit to a massive national effort to exploit and industrialize the moon and asteroid belt, and to colonize the moon and Mars, I refer you to other blog posts I've written here. Maybe one day, hopefully before it is to late, people will start taking this to heart. Then and only then will humanity advance into a state of true equality, freedom and unlimited prosperity for all.
More information: An Open Letter to Bernie Sanders About our Future
The let down in Obama's speech.
"In fact, many of our best corporate citizens are also our most creative. This brings me to the second big question we have to answer as a country: how do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges?
Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn’t deny Sputnik was up there. We didn’t argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon.
That spirit of discovery is in our DNA. We’re Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. We’re Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. We’re every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better world. And over the past seven years, we’ve nurtured that spirit.
We’ve protected an open internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online. We’ve launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day.
But we can do so much more. Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade. Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all."
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