Một bài viết về chương trình thám hiểm không gian của Hoa Kỳ nhân dịp Trung Cộng vừa phóng thành công một phi thuyền điều khiển tự động lên Mặt Trăng

American Exceptionalism and Space Exploration

Paul Spudis

Why is the term, “American exceptionalism” so readily and predictably panned by writers and commentators, as well as in comments that follow those articles?  Do those who condemn and ridicule its use understand the concept and origin of that term?  I believe they do not, so let me spell out what American exceptionalism is.  First, let me begin by noting that I needed to tell the word processing software I’m using to ignore my use of the word “exceptionalism,” as it is programmed to believe that there is no such thing, signaling to the writer that “exceptionalism” is incorrect usage.  Unfortunately it would seem that many Americans have been programmed to believe the same thing.

The United States of America is the first country founded on the principle of individual liberty and freedom.  In a world where people had long lived under the dictates of tyrants (suffered lives of serfdom and slavery under government oppression and confiscation), the founding of America by refugees of conscience was a radical departure – an experiment whereby the people decided their own fate and prospered from their own labor.  By design, this government was created with limited powers and answerable to the people – where individual rights came from God not from government.  This grand experiment created the richest, freest and most successful country in the history of the world.  It is the exceptional way that this nation was created and how it encouraged individual success that is meant by the term “American exceptionalism.”  It does not mean that Americans believe that they are better than people living in other countries.  It means that the political system we have inherited and through which we succeed, is exceptional.  The principal reasons for the success of the American experiment are freedom and liberty.  And it works everywhere it is tried.

Astronaut Ed White makes the first American space walk on the Gemini 4 mission, 1965.

How did American exceptionalism lead to the success of the U.S. space program?  As has been written here and in other publications, the race to the Moon between the United States and the Soviet Union was a Cold War battle fought to claim the mantle of ideological superiority – democracy or communism, freedom or tyranny.  Freedom and liberty won.  Communism and tyranny failed.  The Iron Curtain came down and the world clamored for freedom.  The United States said they were going to land a man on the Moon within the decade and return him safely home and they did.  When President Reagan advocated a missile defense system to protect the free world (dubbed “Star Wars” by a skeptical media), the Soviet leaders bankrupted their country attempting to compete.  With the success of the Apollo program, the Soviets understood that Americans would work and achieve what they set out to do.  Freedom and liberty were concepts embraced by people around the world, and feared by those who oppressed their people.

Forty-one years ago, Americans left the Moon.  Yesterday China put a lander and a rover on the lunar surface.  Today, America can’t launch a human into space.  China is working toward building a space station and putting people on the Moon.  Are America’s days of drive and success behind her?  Is China’s era of drive and success ahead of her?  Is it even important to ask this question?  Wu Ji, director general of the China National Space Science Center believes it needs to be asked.  Stating candidly that he is “dismayed by recent changes” in the U.S. space program, Wu told NPR foreign correspondent Anthony Kuhn, “I don’t know if your listeners or people living in the U.S. understand these changes but as I observe them from the outside, I feel that America is gradually contracting and closing itself off.  It’s a very strange thing.”

In light of other examples where the United States has retreated from leadership on the world stage, this isn’t that strange.  Some of our current leaders believe that America has led too long in world affairs and that our involvement on the international stage has created a more dangerous world.  They contend that by the U.S. taking a rearward position, a healthy normalization of international attitudes will rise up, precipitating world peace.  Others feel this is a dangerous position to take and an abdication of leadership by the United States – that signaling a weak stance gives encouragement to oppressive regimes.

That China would want to energetically embrace space exploration and exploitation is not the issue, but rather that the United States is wandering aimlessly, without strategic direction.  China understands that the Moon is a resource essential to space (as well as terrestrial) leadership and success; the United States apparently does not.  China understands that expansion into space improves the economy and lives of their citizens here on Earth; the United States apparently does not.  Very perplexing.

China on the Moon is not the issue.  The issue – and the problem – is that the United States is not on the Moon, nor planning to return there to harvest resources necessary to build and profit from the inevitable transportation system to be built in cislunar space (the area between the Earth and the Moon, where all of our commercial and national space assets reside).  American exceptionalism must stay viable and be a strong presence along side China and other nations.

So when someone mentions “American exceptionalism” in the same breath as space exploration, it is to express the truth that America must not abandon the frontier of the Moon and its economic and national potential to others.  Wherever humankind goes, the exceptional and successful experiment of government “by and for the people” must be there too.

========================================================================

Mời xem bài báo viết về kết quả thăm dò cử tri Mỹ đánh gía về khả năng trị nước của tổng thống Mỷ sau 5 năm tại chức . NASA mất định hướng vì chính sách của nhà cầm quyền đương nhiệm .  Nếu chương trình ORION về thám hiểm Mặt Trăng không bị co cụm lại thì Hoa Kỳ sẽ đặt một trạm nghiên cứu ở Mặt Trăng năm 2015!

ABC News/Washington Post poll: Obama's approval ratings plummet

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is ending his fifth year in office matching the worst public approval ratings of his presidency, with record numbers of Americans saying they disapprove of his job performance and his once-hefty advantages over Republicans in Congress eroded in many areas, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

His position is all the more striking when compared with his standing a year ago, as he was preparing for his second inauguration after a solid re-election victory. That high note proved fleeting as the president faced a series of setbacks, culminating in the botched rollout of his Affordable Care Act two months ago.

Approval rates of both parties in Congress remain worse than Obama's. Still, it is the president who has suffered the most damage from his administration's self-inflicted wounds and a year of partisan conflict that included a partial shutdown of the government.

Obama's standing is of particular concern to congressional Democrats as they look to next year's midterm elections. Parties that control the White House suffer — sometimes significantly — in midterm campaigns when the president's approval rating is below 50 percent.

White House officials think that since the health-care Web site (HealthCare.gov) is now working better than it was in October and November, they have an opportunity to regroup. The results of the poll offer some hope for the White House, but in general the findings reinforce the perceptions of a president in trouble.

On several key measures, Obama has lost significant ground to his Republican opponents in Congress. On the question of who is seen as better able to handle the country's main problems, Obama and Republicans are tied at 41 percent. A year ago, the president's advantage was 15 points and at this stage in 2010 it was still five points.

Obama also has lost the lead he enjoyed on who could better deal with the economy. Today Republicans are at 45 percent to Obama's 41 percent. Last year at this time, it was Obama at 54 percent and congressional Republicans at 36 percent. A 26-point Obama advantage a year ago on who would better protect the middle class has fallen to just six points in the latest survey.

He has lost ground on these measures among women, liberals and younger Americans — key members of his winning electoral coalition.

The president's overall approval rating stands at 43 percent, while disapproval is at 55 percent. Those numbers are virtually identical to a poll taken a month ago. At this time last year, 54 percent approved of Obama's overall performance and 42 disapproved. Even after the huge losses his party suffered in the 2010 midterms, Obama's approval rating was higher, at 49 percent, than it is today and was slightly more positive than negative.

Obama ends his fifth year in office with lower approval ratings than almost all other recent two-term presidents. At this point in 2005, for example, former President George W. Bush was at 47 percent positive, 52 percent negative. All other post-World War II presidents were at or above 50 percent at this point in their second terms, except Richard M. Nixon, whose fifth year ended in 1973 with an approval rating of 29 percent because of the Watergate scandal that later brought impeachment and his resignation.

Congressional approval stands at 16 percent, up four points in the past month but still hovering near historic lows. More than seven in 10 disapprove of the way congressional Republicans are doing their job, which is only marginally worse than a year ago. Congressional Democrats are only slightly less disliked, with more than six in 10 disapproving of their performance.

Asked about the new budget deal approved by the House last week, 50 percent say they approve and 35 percent disapprove. The rest have no opinion. The budget passed the House with big majorities of Republicans and Democrats, and is up for consideration in the Senate this week. Majorities of Democrats and independents in the poll say they approve while Republicans are splintered.

Looking to 2014, voters are almost evenly divided in how they would cast their ballots in House races. Two months ago, Democrats held an eight-point advantage on the heels of the October government shutdown. Today it's just two points — 47 percent to 45 percent. As a point of reference, shortly before Republicans made historic gains in the House in 2010, this "generic ballot" narrowly favored the Democrats.

The president is back in positive territory, however marginally, on two important attributes — whether he understands the problems of everyday Americans and whether he is honest and trustworthy. At the worst of the health-care mess, bare majorities said no to both questions. Today bare majorities say yes. But what was a double-digit positive assessment on both a year ago has tumbled into single digits today.

Disapproval of Obama's handling of the health-care law's implementation stands at 62 percent, while disapproval of his handling of the economy is at 55 percent. Both are little changed from a month ago, when Obama's ratings tumbled after the health-care mess.

Despite those sizable disapproval levels for the president on health care, perceptions of the law itself have returned to their pre-rollout state. A month ago almost six in 10 Americans said they opposed the law, with four in 10 supporting it, a record level of opposition. Those numbers are identical to two months ago, with 46 percent supporting and 49 percent opposing.

The White House has declared that the health-care Web site is working better now, but perceptions of it as a flawed system persist. More than six in 10 Americans say the Web site is not working as it should be and more than half say that is a sign of broader problems for the implementation of the program. Six in 10 say the problems are serious enough that the administration should delay the requirement that all Americans have health insurance.

Even in light of the law's troubles, Obama hangs onto a five-point edge over Republicans in who is trusted to implement the law. Fully one in six volunteer that neither party can be trusted on health care.

Nearly half of all Americans say they think the law will result in a worse overall health-care situation in the country, and six in 10 say it will mean higher overall costs. Americans are split over whether their own health-care costs will rise or not under the new law; a scant number expect a discount. But about six in 10 say they expect the quality of their own care and their insurance coverage to be about the same under the new law as before.

On the economy, perceptions remain gloomy. Despite a number of positive signs, including a drop in unemployment, stronger than originally reported growth in the last quarter and a stock market that has had a good year, nearly eight in 10 say the economy remains in recession. At the same time, a new high of 59 percent of Americans say that based on their own experience, the economy has begun to bounce back.

Five years after Bush left office, half of all Americans say they blame him for the economy's current problems compared with almost four in 10 who blame Obama. Those perceptions have changed little in the past year.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted Dec. 12-15 among a random national sample of 1,005 adults, including interviews on land lines and with cellphone-only respondents. The overall margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.