Monday, August 31, 1987

Mental capabilities must be tapped.

The science driver method for economic development was pioneered during the Golden Renaissance and applied by Presidents Washington, John Q. Adams, Monroe, Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Kennedy.

This science driver method, combined with entrepreneurial skills and low-interest credit for infrastructure, manufacturing, and agriculture, has become known worldwide as the American System of political economy. To begin applying the American system in Alaska, I suggest the following three steps:

• The governor identifies specific mission assignments associated with advancing the frontiers of high-energy physics for capital goods production, electromagnetic geophysical research, and primary reduction of strategic minerals.

•The Alaska legislature appropriates $1.5 billion to begin construction of a manufacturing sciences prototype institute at the University of Alaska Anchorage and for the purchase of electromagnetic research equipment at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. (Both private and government contracts must be allowed in the university system.)

•Government, industry, finance, and entrepreneurship select from the science driver projects using leveraged investments.

History has taught us that the only long-term source of wealth is the development of the creative mental capabilities of citizens. Alaska must tap this source of wealth and lead our nation back to the time-proven methods of the American System. Isn’t it time for Alaskans to go back to work?

Charles E. Duncan