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Vision statement by former Columbus resident, now candidate for 15th Congressional District, Florida
by Timothy Shipe
March 12, 2006

Dear Editor:

As an orthodox Catholic, I find much that is disagreeable in the standard Left/Right, Liberal/Conservative political ideologies. There is a greater vision for America, and we have only to look to our past to find some keys to our better future.

I am inspired by such policy initiatives as the New Deal, the Manhattan Project, the Marshall Plan, and the Apollo project. The New Deal brought the government into the hands of those more interested in the common good, than the special interests of amoral financial speculators, and greed-driven elites. Government, churches and charities all have a role to play in addressing the rights of all people to live a life worth living.

The Manhattan Project had an immoral end of developing a nuclear weapon, but it represents the idea that the government has a key role to play in bringing together the greatest minds in the world. In today’s money, a like Project would cost us $20 billion. Imagine if we gathered the world’s best researchers to work on perfecting energy technologies such as nuclear fission/fusion, or any number of brilliant possibilities that would take us beyond fossil fuels, with no corporate conglomerates putting their interests above ours and our nation’s.

Combine the Marshall Plan with the Apollo Project, and we could have an America that is leading the world with a Science-driver global economy. With the current World Bank/IMF model, the wealthy countries are simply robbing the poorer ones, exploiting their cheaper labor and resources to benefit a relative few.

Tourist and service economies are dead ends. We need to direct monies into such things as intelligent infrastructure investment to improve the material lives of people all over the world- especially the poor and vulnerable, and also our own nation’s diminished industrial base. We need to unite the world around awe-inspiring goals, like space exploration and colonization, with a keen eye to applying the knowledge gained in such research to our global/earthly concerns for human and environmental ecologies.

I don’t think it benefits America to hold anti-business, anti-labor union, or anti-government attitudes. We need strong businesses and unions, we need a strong government to provide the juridical framework for all such interests to work together for the common good. Political leaders should also be the ones who have the larger vision for society as a whole. I believe that we can hitch our economy to the infinite by pursuing the dream of space colonization. This is not an- either we invest in the needy people here on earth now, or we throw money at frivolous space conquests. I see it as a both/and scenario, where infrastructure improvements, research and development, go hand in hand with rising global living standards for all who are willing to work, and the physical environment is improved. We can overcome the evils of our age by winning back the hearts and minds of the world as we demonstrate our good works and good will – that is if we still believe in such things.

Yours,
Timothy Shipe
www.timshipe.com

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