The Kennedy-led moonshot is no longer a sufficient analogy for addressing global climate change. Nothing short of recasting the culture of manifest destiny stands a chance of mobilizing our national character widely enough and soon enough.
The United States expanded from “sea to shining sea” and beyond. We tapped territory and resources as they never had been before. America could realize an evolved version of that manifest destiny. It could lead the world away from consumption run rampant. It could manifest a destiny that sets the standard for tapping resources sustainably. Only a reawakened and revitalized culture will extend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from generation to shining generation.
Global climate change, along with crippling depletions and pollutions, threatens our children. No less than the manifest destiny that labeled America great can sustain greatness for generations to come … though now our destiny must manifest recognition of our relative place in nature.
------------------------------- first use by John L. Sullivan in 1845: -------------------------------
“the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us”