Paul F. Dietz ) wrote:
: Alan Anderson wrote:

: As it happens, this is one of those "not in full agreement" bits. I
: think flights of United States astronauts made plenty of sense in the
: context of the Space Race, which itself was reasonable in the larger
: context of the Cold War.

: I think it's illuminating to ask 'how would the Cold War have gone
: differently if the space race hadn't happened'? I doubt much would
: have changed. It eventually became clear to all that communism was
: seriously flawed, so it wasn't necessary to demonstrate first
: world superiority by means of large government programs.

Are you saying the DOD budget during the Cold War should have either
stayed the same or actually have gone down? Explain to me why you think
that the DOD isn't a "large government program".

Eric

: Paul