In March of 2006, economist and writer/blogger James D. Miller wrote an essay for TCSDaily called “Elevating Elephants” (which I linked to here), an article calling for the Republican Party to commit the US Government to build a Space Elevator by 2020.
With McCain the evident Republican nominee, Mr. Miller is now calling for:
Building a space elevator has just become vastly more practical because scientists have figured out how to”grow nanowires of unlimited length.” So I now urge John McCain to advocate building a space elevator. McCain seems like the type of politician who would support a bold project that would showcase America’s technological dominance while giving the U.S. military a tremendous boost.
I’m not a McCain fan in any way, shape or form, but if he did this I would certainly applaud – I’d even let them name it after him (The “McCainevator”?) Of course I’m not going to hold my breath…
I don’t see this as practical
– we still don’t know if we can build a space elevator.
– the government doesn’t have a great track record owning and operating transportation.
– 2020 is a very optimistic deadline.
– Given the long time to build a system, advocating one in a divisive political environment seems foolish. If it’s the Republican Elevator the next Democrat Administration will kill it.