Promises and realities

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. 

I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. 

Finally today, what happens when a generation encounters big ideas for the first time?

WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says it depends on which ideas—and how well we understand them.

AUDIO: “4-3-2-1, booster ignition. And liftoff! The crew of Artemis II now bound for the moon. Humanity’s next great voyage begins...”

CAL THOMAS: Watching the excitement around the Artemis II mission—sending astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years—you can see something happening.

AUDIO: “See the plume? Go, go, go! Yes! Woo-hoo! Go! Go! Hahahaha! Yes!”

For a lot of younger Americans, this feels new. The last men to walk on the moon did so in 1972.

CBS: “Man on the moon! / We copy you down, Eagle. / Houston, uh, Tranquility base, here. The Eagle has landed. / Roger, Tranquility, we copy you.”

That is more than two generations ago. So the power of a rocket launch, the risk, the sense of national purpose—for many, it's being discovered for the first time.

And that got me to thinking. There's something else being embraced today—also by people who have never experienced it firsthand: Socialism.

In places like New York City, and among national political figures like Bernie Sanders, the idea is gaining traction—especially among younger voters.

But many of those voters have never lived under it. They did not grow up during the Cold War. They've not seen what socialism looks like in practice.

What they hear is that it's “fair.” That it redistributes wealth. That it corrects injustice.

What they may not see is that the wealth being redistributed was created by something else: Capitalism. A system they are often taught to distrust, even as they continue to benefit from it.

AUDIO: But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this?

I remember a different kind of national moment.

KENNEDY: We choose to go to the moon. … We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things—not because they are easy, but because they are hard! Because that goal …

As a young reporter in Houston, I covered the space program in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

It grew out of a challenge from John F. Kennedy—to put a man on the moon before the decade of the 60s was out.

And the people who answered that call—they really were what Tom Wolfe later called “the right stuff.”

I met astronauts like Alan Shepard and John Glenn. I spent time in Mission Control. I watched launches.

And even as the Vietnam War divided the country, the space program brought Americans together.

AUDIO: This is the crew of Apollo 13, wishing everybody there a nice evening …

Then came the Apollo 13 mission.

At first, the networks barely paid attention. Another launch. Another mission. 

Until something went wrong.

AUDIO: OK Houston, we’ve had a problem here. / This is Houston, say again, please. / Houston, we’ve had a problem.

An oxygen tank exploded. Power failed. Life support was at risk.

AUDIO: OK stand by 13, we’re lookin’ at it.

And suddenly, the whole world was watching.

Even Congress called for prayer. [scoffs] It's hard to imagine that happening today.

We are hearing again that space exploration costs too much. That we cannot afford it.

But we have managed both before—investing in big ideas while addressing economic challenges at home.

And that brings me back to socialism. There is a saying that capitalism raises all boats. Socialism tends to do the opposite—or at least keeps those boats from going very far.

If you've never lived under it, you owe it to yourself to learn what it actually does—not just what it promises.

Talk to people who have experienced socialism. Read their stories.

As for space—exploration is part of who we are. And with new technology, we are likely to go farther than ever before.

So here is a suggestion for the next generation: Put down the phone for a minute. Look up.

And learn—about promises, and realities.

For WORLD, I’m Cal Thomas.

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