Think of the space shuttle as a fractal element of the Federal government. Fractals, you’ll recall, are those bizarre, intricate structures composed of miniature copies of themselves, such as the famous Mandelbrot Set, or deceptively mundane broccoli. Most fractals are elegant, often beautiful, arrangements that emerge from patterns created from their constituent elements. The post-constitutional Federal government, on the other hand, is a grim kaleidoscope of dubious projects with obscene price tags, of which the space shuttle is but one component. Nevertheless, since the elements that make up a fractal look like the overall structure, we can learn much about … Continue reading Hail, Columbia!