OPINION:
Watching the enthusiasm, especially among people younger than I am, for the Artemis II mission around the moon reminds us that the last men to land on the lunar surface did so in December 1972.
Two generations have been born since then, and for them, the excitement of a powerful rocket and the danger involved in such a mission is something new.
This is about to come true with socialism. It is being imposed in New York City by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, its longtime American “prophet,” Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, and others in and out of Congress.
Many younger people who voted for Mr. Mamdani have no idea what socialism looks or feels like. They weren’t around for the Cold War. They never had to live under socialism. The distribution of wealth to those who have not earned it sounds so “fair” to them, and, without knowing why, they have come to hate the wealth created by capitalism.
Yet for now, they still benefit from it.
Most of these young people have never served in our all-volunteer military, and in too many instances, they have been pampered by parents who allow them to live at home when their degrees in African American or women’s studies don’t qualify them for real jobs in an increasingly technological economy.
Younger people (and older ones, for different reasons) are thrilled by the Artemis II adventure. They seem unaware of what that earlier space program did to bring Americans together in ways we haven’t seen since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Again, another generation has been born since that awful day.
As a young reporter in Houston, I covered the space program in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was the product of President Kennedy’s vision to send men to the moon by the end of the 1960s.
Those astronauts really were “The Right Stuff,” as Tom Wolfe labeled them in a book that became a hit movie. Spending time in mission control, sitting in a simulator, meeting some of the astronauts, including Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Deke Slayton and Jack Lousma and watching some of them fly to the moon was thrilling.
Though the Vietnam War raged and demonstrators took to the streets to protest, the U.S. space program was a unifying force.
When Apollo 13 got into trouble (“Houston, we’ve had a problem,” said Jim Lovell), the three TV networks that had become blase after previous moon landings at first didn’t cover it. Not until an oxygen tank exploded in the service module, disabling its electrical and life-support system.
Suddenly, the world was watching the drama again, as it did when Apollo 11 first landed men on the moon. Even Congress issued a statement calling for prayer for the safe return of the astronauts.
That might not happen today.
We are again hearing arguments against spending so much money on space missions when the economy is struggling, but we address both. We have before.
It is said that capitalism raises all boats. Socialism sinks them, or at least prevents them from sailing much at all. People, especially younger people, who have never lived under socialism should study it and listen to or read about people who have.
As for the renewed space program, exploration is in our blood, and with even newer technologies soon to come, we will be able to go even farther than anyone has before.
Younger people: Put down your phones and learn more about space and socialism.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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