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Letter From Europe: ‘I wish Obama had enough intelligence, humility, and integrity to appreciate American exceptionalism’

From reader Expat:

Hi Siggy,

My husband is spending the weekend writing a paper. Last night he came home and told me that while checking out something at GOLD (Genomes On Line Database), he had looked at the statistics page and was astounded at the amount of data that comes from the US. We have a friend who directs one of the Large-scale Projects – the Microbiome – at Washington University, so Erhard has been following these developments because WU is a major genomics center along with Venter Institute. He also loves GOLD’s internal search function that allows him to find matching gene sequences in different organisms and compare functions.

When you look at the amount of information that is free and now available to any researcher in the tiniest or poorest countries, you are struck by the size of the US contribution to the world of knowledge. The contrast to the world of snail mail and libraries that could afford journals couldn’t be greater. Yes, we are big and we are rich, but it is our dynamism that makes this possible. We use government and private financing; we give people a free hand  to try things out. We don’t demonize people who might want to start a biotech business that will make (God forbid) money. We also attract people from around the world who may stay and keep the dynamism going or may return home to work on projects specific to their country. Both categories bring the world closer together.

I was checking out the Franklin Institute site yesterday to get some info for a friend who will be in Philly next month. I came across a link to a research project in Austin that had bioengineered a cyanobacteria strain to produce cellulose for ethanol fuels without destroying farmland or using freshwater supplies. I regularly check Instapundit’s links about fuels from algae, thin film photovoltaic panels, nanotech, etc. Erhard says as these things start to come together, America will move on them so fast that the world will be astounded. He sometimes shakes his head at the crazy Americans (I’m included here), but he loves the excitement and innovation. Of course other countries have first-class scientists doing important work, sometimes the best in a particular field, but it is America that synthesizes and energizes.

I thought you might like to check out the site and look at the statistics (left sidebar).

http://www.genomesonline.org/

I wish that Obama had enough intelligence, humility, and integrity to appreciate this aspect of American exceptionalism. Maybe he would go out into the world and try to infect it with our enthusiasm instead of apologizing. I wish that he liked us, warts and all, but he doesn’t. He is trying to dampen our spirit. We can’t let that happen.

‘Please? Just One More, I Promise’