"We must always emphasize research and development of science and mathematics, and I can think of no better way to achieve this than through our future in space"
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Space is doing two jobs at once here: it is both a literal destination and a political technology for selling investment in unglamorous basics. Lampson frames science and math not as classroom abstractions or budget lines, but as the upstream fuel for a national story people actually want to fund. The phrase "must always" signals permanence and discipline, a preemptive strike against the familiar cycle where STEM becomes a slogan during crises and a target during appropriations.
The cleverness is in the causal shortcut: "no better way" turns space into the ultimate justification, a kind of policy trump card. Research spending becomes easier to defend when it is hitched to rockets, satellites, and the prestige of exploration. Space functions as a clean metaphor for the future: expansive, optimistic, hard to argue against without sounding small-minded. That optimism is strategic. It launders contentious choices - which programs get funded, which regions benefit, who gets contracts - through a bipartisan fantasy of human progress.
The subtext is also economic, even if the language stays lofty. For a politician, "research and development" often means jobs in aerospace, universities, and contractors; "space" means districts with NASA centers and supply chains. The quote sits in the long post-Apollo tradition of invoking the space program as an engine for innovation and a pipeline for talent. It's less a scientific claim than a coalition-building one: wrap education, industry, and national ambition into a single, forward-facing sentence that makes cutting R&D feel like cutting the future itself.
The cleverness is in the causal shortcut: "no better way" turns space into the ultimate justification, a kind of policy trump card. Research spending becomes easier to defend when it is hitched to rockets, satellites, and the prestige of exploration. Space functions as a clean metaphor for the future: expansive, optimistic, hard to argue against without sounding small-minded. That optimism is strategic. It launders contentious choices - which programs get funded, which regions benefit, who gets contracts - through a bipartisan fantasy of human progress.
The subtext is also economic, even if the language stays lofty. For a politician, "research and development" often means jobs in aerospace, universities, and contractors; "space" means districts with NASA centers and supply chains. The quote sits in the long post-Apollo tradition of invoking the space program as an engine for innovation and a pipeline for talent. It's less a scientific claim than a coalition-building one: wrap education, industry, and national ambition into a single, forward-facing sentence that makes cutting R&D feel like cutting the future itself.
Quote Details
| Topic | Science |
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