Another reason to vote for McCain

It seems that John McCain is a man of imagination and vision- and a man who understands that the economic benefits of manned space travel by far outweigh the expenses.

He wants us to go to Mars.

People tend to treat that prospect as a zero-sum game, suggesting that the money is better spend on needs here on Earth. But that's not the way the science of economics works. The Apollo program, for example, generated exponentially more money than it cost. It employed large numbers of Americans, giving them good jobs- and, inevitably, resulted in myriad technological spin offs that resulted in a huge increase in the GNP.

There is every reason to believe that a permanent colony on the Moon and a Mars mission would be even a better investment.

Going to Mars not only is something we can afford to do, but something we can't afford not to do. There are few things that could be of greater benefit to the economy in the long run than exactly what McCain proposes.