The 100 year vision

"Trump had vision. Operation Warp Speed. The Abraham Accords. Energy independence. Launching our Space Force. Biden's vision for America? More unions. More spending. More inflation. More crime."

Last week, there was a panel on a news show. It consisted of a Republican, Democrat, and media person. Many topics were discussed, including infrastructure. They discussed the Russians and the Chinese, and how they will jointly do business going into the future. The Democrat then gave a very interesting perspective. Infrastructure was conflated with how the Russians and Chinese view the world. In fact, the Democrat gave a very "un-Democrat" like response.

"The problem with our country right now, is vision. The Russians and Chinese are looking ahead - way ahead. Like 100 years ahead. How they can shape the world (and beyond) for the next century." 

Then it dawned on me. Our current President, with this "Build, back better" fiasco - is living in the past. Our vision is focused on the past. Including wanting to have 50% of our workers belong to a union. That is so yesterday! Meanwhile, the Russians and Chinese are looking towards the infrastructure which will needed to be constructed on the Moon. And then Mars. And then the Asteroid Belt.

Our country had great vision under President Kennedy. Who can ever forget that famous line - "We will go to the Moon not because it is easy - we will do it because it is hard." Using computing power, which was less than many of today's phones contain, we safely landed people on the Moon under the Apollo Program. Not once, but  six times. And after that - our vision stopped.

If not for people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, I would wonder if this country has any vision left. Trump had vision. Operation Warp Speed. The Abraham Accords. Energy independence. Launching our Space Force. Biden's vision for America? More unions. More spending. More inflation. More crime. More spying on us. Meanwhile, the Chinese are galloping way ahead of us. 

I have not told this story for a while. My first company out of college was Sperry Univac. They had a "futurist" on staff. Every time this man talked, we all listened. We was wise way beyond his years. One of my favorite topics he talked about, was the home computer. How some day in the near future, most homes would have a computer which would make life easier. How many things in the house could be tied into this computer (hello, Internet of Things). My point is this - talking about the future is alluring. Focusing on our past, some of which was soiled, is not. And Biden is very good at reminding us of any soiled past we might have had.

Pandemic aside, this decade is still going to be remembered as "the Roaring 20's". Not like the last century - this decade will be jaw dropping impressive. How do I know? Our government may not have long term vision, but many of our new Captains of Industry do.

All we need our government to do right now, is get the heck out of the way. Trump knew that, Joe Biden does not. Hopefully, our next President will. Why? The future is ours for the taking. That is, if our vision can see it.