"MomFromHlwdFL" wrote a diary today that focused on the fact we have more than 700 military bases throughout the world, and wouldn't it maybe be a good idea to close a few, save hundreds of millions, and spend the savings on health care.
That got me thinking about all the bases we have within the US we don't need. I mean it is such a problem there is actually a government commission set-up to close many of them called the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC). It has closed a number of bases, but not nearly enough.
The reason is simple, every congressperson agrees we need to close a lot of bases, just not the one in their district, cause military bases contribute tens and in some instances hundreds of millions to the local economies where they are located.
Well I have an idea how we could close some bases, save hundreds of millions, and grow the economy at the same time. I call it "My Big Idea." Let me explain below the fold.
BACKGROUND
Scott Air Force Base is just a few miles from me. At one time it was on the BRAC list, but eventually got taken off (that is another strange, bizarre story).
But for awhile we thought it would be closed and there was much discussion locally about what would be done with it and how the surrounding communities could take a hit in losing around $75 million in direct and indirect spending generated by the base each year.
Now for those that have not been around large military bases I have to stress Scott is its own city. It has its own power grid. Water. Fire department. Schools. Grocery store. Hospital. Movie theater. Health clubs. Parks. Its own Metro stop. Golf course, tennis courts, baseball fields, you name it. But most important of all tons of top-of-the-line office space and housing for thousands and thousands of people. And of course a runway so large the Space Shuttle has landed here on the back of a 747 a few times.
So of course if the base was closed it wouldn't make a lot of sense to just bulldoze the place. Now most people I talked to that live around me thought that Scott being "empty" was a liability, but I always thought of it as an asset.
I mean you have a complete city already built and just begging for a use!
Now before I go on lets take a step back in time to the Great Depression. My knowledge of history is not as good as it should be, and outside of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) I couldn't really name any other work projects from that time period.
But I was doing some research for a Diary on Red Rocks Amphitheater and I quickly learned that we are still getting great benefits from thousands of projects built during and/or right after the Depression that are still in use today. I had always thought a lot of the work programs were just "busy" work, but in fact we actually did a lot of stuff that had value then and now.
Fast forward to 2009 and our current economic situation. Obama has said time and time again his vision for the future of America is for us to be the world leader in IT, genetics, space travel, green technology, and just basic research and development. We here is my idea.
MY BIG IDEA
Take the best minds from the private sector, government, and academia and put them in a room to determine what firms and people all around the world are working on the "next big thing." Create a fund, with billions to invest, to bring those people to Scott and make the darn place the next Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) or Bell Labs.
If the hospital needs to be upgraded to do cutting edge genetic research do it. If the facilities they current use to test jet engines needs to be reworked to test wind turbines, make it so. If the runways and multiple hangers needs to be reworked so a firm that thinks they can build a better space craft than NASA get it done.
If they need more land to create a test facility and factory to build the next generation lithium batteries annex some of the tens of thousands of acres of farm fields that surround Scott and build it. Heck annex some of the land just to test new strains of seeds and fertilizers that don't have such a negative affect on the environment.
Use all the dorms currently used by newly enlisted people as dorms and bring in children of all ages, our best and brightest, to study with adults and get hands on experience and test their ideas.
Let a company the size of GE or the guy that lives next door to you submit proposals for funding. Select those people, give them the money they need and relocate then to Scott where they'd have world class facilities to do their work.
Teachers, police officers, fireman that don't have jobs, move them here as well so they can run the community.
Then as this works, and with Obama in charge I think it would work (maybe have Michele run it?), do the same to other bases throughout the nation that have no "real" use anymore and create an entire network of research centers focused on driving America forward into the next century.
And because I am at my core a Capitalist, we'd eventually make money while creating dozens and dozens of new businesses (and tens of thousands of jobs) that might one day be the next GE, Ford, or Microsoft. Cause anybody using one of these facilities and our taxpayer dollars would be required to say maybe give back a small percent of any future profits developed here.
That is my "big idea." And I should stress I use the word "big" not in that I am smart, but "big" as in our drive to get to the moon or to mobilize for WWII. Things where we didn't bitch and moan, "oh that is too hard," we just did what needed to be done.
So what do you think .....