Sending the Politicians to Orbit

In article ,
"Jim Oberg" wrote:

Two politicians did go into orbit, without any apparent impact on their
world views, and some men in orbit later became politicians, but
both seemed to act in classic partisan style even so -- especially
John Glenn.

So we do have a non-zero sample size and it is not encouraging.

How do we know that without his experience in space, John Glenn wouldn't
have been a Republican?

After all, he his ex-military, which I think would tend to encourage
Republican values. And views from space are generally described to
elicit feelings of connectedness, fragily of the Earth, obligation to
protect our one living world, etc., which might lead one to more
Democratic values.

All sheer speculation, of course, but it certainly doesn't provide the
counterexample that a conservative Republican ex-astronaut would.

Best,
- Joe

--
"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness." - George W. Bush [8/30/00]

["Followup-To:" header set to sci.space.station.]
On 2004-10-26, Joe Strout wrote:

After all, he his ex-military, which I think would tend to encourage
Republican values. And views from space are generally described to
elicit feelings of connectedness, fragily of the Earth, obligation to
protect our one living world, etc., which might lead one to more
Democratic values.

Nice theory, but...

All sheer speculation, of course, but it certainly doesn't provide the
counterexample that a conservative Republican ex-astronaut would.

The three Apollo-era ex-astronauts who went into politics were
Republicans; Jack Swigert was elected to Congress from Colorado in '82,
but died before taking office (having run in a Senate primary there in
'78); Jack Schmitt was a Senator from New Mexico '77-83; Jack Lousma ran
for the Senate in Michigan in '84.

The two active politicians who flew were one R one D, but givne they
were in politics first...

--
-Andrew Gray