February 11, 2012

The Revealing Moon Debate

By Howard Richman and Raymond Richman
On January 25, Speaker Gingrich proposed that the U.S. government build and maintain a colony on the moon.  He was promising the moon in order to get votes in Florida from those who work for NASA and its contractors.   The next day, the Florida Republican debate occurred.  It was too soon for the candidates to focus-group their positions; as a result, their arguments in the debate revealed how they actually think.  (Click here to watch this portion of the debate.)   Gingrich: The Big Idea Man   The most creative part of Speaker Gingrich's proposal was his method for involving entrepreneurs in the venture.  He is aware that NASA has been deteriorating over time to the point where it cannot even get satellites up into space.  Gingrich would largely replace NASA with contests.  In the debate, he said:   I believe, by the use of prizes, by the use of incentives, by opening up the space port so that it's available on a ready basis for...(Read Full Article)