Quote:
Originally Posted by Targan
At some point the faith of the American people in their nation's dominance will be shaken. I hope the public backlash from that won't result in rash decisions being taken by the government of the day.
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Polling, which is admittedly a very crude gauge, suggests we are at that point. I maintain the fantasy that we yet will find a constructive way of expressing our rivalry with China, such as exploration of and development of space resources. Provided a suitable institutional framework can be established for development of extraterrestrial resources, such as lunar light helium and platinum, it might be possible to see national pride involved in the construction of infrastructure, energy resources, permanent stations, technological advances, etc. A carrier-killing missile (functional or otherwise) might make itself obsolete by inspiring greater efforts toward commercial competition and flagship efforts.
Yes, I'm a hopeless idealist. Still, since our competition with the Chinese is taking a very different form than our competition with the Soviets, I hope that we might recognize that we have more to gain from seeking common solutions than squabbling over the considerable but limited larder that exists already. Otherwise, there will always be yet another carrier-killing missile.
Webstral