I have heard people complain that they can't get their stuff cheaper. Also count in those who shop at Wal-mart which is all about getting stuff cheaper even if it means sometimes compromising price for quality and you find yourself with. a lot of people who want cheap. If people didn't want cheaper goods and services then neither India or China would be where they are today.
Sorry. I meant with respect to the Pure Food and Drug Act.

I want to jump in here, but nah. NOt gonna bite into this rotten apple of back patting rancid wank fest of "oh america the beautiful aren't we great but where did we go wrong?"
That's probably best. You'll probably just spew some Noam Chomsky nuthugging America has been a force of evil for a century nonsense.

What actually got me thinking about this is the reason I want Obama to be president. Unlike either McCain, or Hillary, he seems to get that being the superpower doesn't equate to leadership, and it doesn't equate to leading. And yeah, it just SUCKS just SUCKS that some of us would like to see U.S. power used in ways that benefit a lot of people, around the world, doesn't it? We DESPERATELY need an attitude change, more than anything else.

Where we went wrong was quite clear. We got a wrapped up in ourselves and self-congratulatory. Winning the Cold War should have been just the start of something more. I'm not pining for some sort of imaginary golden age or lamenting to a sad sad tune. I want things to get better, and I believe they can. It will take a lot of hard work, and a lot of not listening to negative nancies who like to extole the evils of the United States. That's defeatism at its worse. "Oh, the US just ****s everything up -why bother?"

Merry, your statement of "power is just a tool" is off kilter.
To quote Pauli "That's not right. It's not even wrong." Power is THE tool used to accomplish an end. We're done here.

Oh wait, no we're not.

If anyone thinks power is just a tool, they've never had any significant amount of it.
Like Canada? (That's really not directed in malice. I just couldn't help myself. )

Rogue to answer the "space race" question - don't pick a solution, establish the goal, then start funding parallel paths of development.