JayDubya said:Yes, I'm sure all the readily available fertile land being given away had nothing to do with it.
Also, I made jokes about "the New World," so obviously I already expecting the parallel. Trouble is, it's more of a perpendicular.
Fertile land given away by whom?
Also, as to your previous question:
The shame is that even in the absence of our pissing contest with the Soviets we still continue to spend money on something with no discernible long-term benefit.
The US deciding to invest into this "pissing contest" [which, in the free market is known as 'competition'], has established today's infrastructure as we know it: the internet, communication [cellphones, tv, radio], GPS, weather forecasts, meteor detection, and so forth.
By your assertion, should the US have invested in the Explorer 1 project?