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Space Travel For the 1%: Virgin Galactic's $250,000 Tickets Haunt New Mexico Town
The Real Dr John writes: The Guardian has an article about Virgin Galactic's proposed launch site, Spaceport America, which broke ground in southern New Mexico's high desert in 2009 with almost a quarter of a billion dollars from taxpayers, $76m of which came from the two local counties. Truth or Consequences, population 6,000 and home to the Spaceport America Visitor Center, is one of the poorest places in the state. The increased taxes, adopted across impoverished Sierra County, contributed to about $5m as of 2014. Since 2009, state school budgets have been cut and an estimated $26m in necessary repairs to the town's water system has been put on hold. There's no more money to pay for it. The average annual income of residents is just $15,000 per year, one third of residents live below the poverty line, and just 20% over the age of 25 have obtained a bachelor's degree.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it./quote
But then again that should have been obvious to everyone long ago. Shame too many people think the government is some sort of magic purse.
There was a TED talk not long ago, given by Jonathan Haidt, highlighting his research into the liberal vs the conservative mind. The findings was quite interesting and go some way towards explaining the motivations behind liberal and conservative social policy preferences. Basically, he identifies five cross-cultral foundations of morality:
A balance of all five was found to be a necessary condition for what many people would consider to be a good society. Now here is where it gets interesting. People who characterize themselves as conservative tend to base their moral compass on a combination of all five values. Some valued more than others but all of them at least considered. However, people who characterize themselves as liberal tend to value the first three characteristics quite highly, but authority/respect and purity/sanctity little or not at all. This comports well with liberal policy preferences and social movements in recent memory which have sought to deliver results quickly, but without much interest in conserving existing social structures or regard to existing authorities. Anyone else remember "Question Authority"?
So, because liberals are not concerned with conserving existing social structures, laws or institutions and don't place much value in them beyond the immediate utility they may provide in service of the first three characteristics, they're willing to support and advocate for policies which may have the effect of damaging or even destroying these institutions or authorities in pursuit of quick results or "social justice". This tends to breed impatience among liberals for "good things" to be done quickly and thus a desire to see more government spending, even reckless spending, to advance that agenda right now.
As you said, it should have been obvious to everyone a long time ago, but it wasn't and isn't because not everybody thinks like you or I do. Conservatives are at least able to understand and recognize what motivates liberal positions, even if they don't agree with them, but many liberals seem to be quite incapable of properly understanding or ascribing conservative motives for policy preferences, particularly as they relate to authority/respect or purity/sanctity. The result is often ridiculous conspiracy theories, false dichotomies, or silly accusations of "mean spiritedness" against conservatives as liberals struggle and ultimately fail to understand why somebody could possibly disagree with them without being an idiot or a psychopath.
TFA doesn't explain or link as to how VG caused the citizens to vote a tax increase upon themselves. If that was the deal, I would have recommended against it. Especially the part about the schools and water system.
You know, I bet that wasn't the deal. I bet that closer to the truth, is that the town, county, and state fell all over themselves offering all kinds of crazy shit. Those people gambled, and they lost.
Sort of like Virgin Galactic lost their ship, momentum, place in the space race, shit tons of cash; and so on. I believe one of their people actually died. All those townspeople lost was their self respect, and maybe some money, that their elected officials spent. I don't think VG has made any sort of profit on this town.
So to make out like the evil corporation took advantage of the ignorant little podunk town is really stretching the truth here.
However being a Christian conservative white male has been deem illegal in this country it seems like and blamed for every thing.
That sounds a little whiny to me, but let's take that comment at face value for a moment. I'm curious...what are the top 3 things that you and the rest of the Christian conservative white male population are being blamed for - and who's doing the blaming?
We should maybe aspire to something greater than a 3000 year old model?
Sadly, most people think the big government they keep voting for is there to help them, not to help those who buy the politicians they vote for. With enemies like the left, the 1% don't need friends.
It's not Left or Right. It's money or no money. The Left/Right paradigm is used to distract from class warfare being waged by the .1%.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)