What you really mean is "given a goal by the government", and that's where we differ. I don't think Americans or American exceptionalism needs politicians to excel.
I have faith in Americans and American businesses that if this is truly a viable opportunity, they would be pursuing it regardless of whether there was some government "prize" or not. Frankly, the idea that Americans are just sitting around ignoring opportunities until their government points them out is offensive. The folks at Boeing and elsewhere in the private sector have forgotten more about the feasability of space exploration than Newt will ever know.
Believing otherwise is the same crock of big-government filth that leads to the belief that green energy is just sitting there waiting for us if only big corporations weren't stupid enough not to see it. For me, though, I suspect that such companies are much more informed about the economic realities of all this stuff than a candidate who has taken historical fiction writing a bit too seriously. I like Ray Forschten and all, and the Lost Regiment series was cool, but I know when reality ends, and fansasy begins.
If the truth about these ideas is as you say, then the fact that the private sector (apparently) is just sitting on its hand doing nothing about it until Newt offers a "prize" is a pathetically said commentary on the state of this nation and its people.
This is a statement on faith in American Exceptionalism.
No it isn't. It is a statement of faith in politicians, and the lack of faith in the ability of the American people to have the initiative and foresight to do things for themselves.
O.K. So, you hate Newt. Got it.
Sometimes, government actually has uses. You know how the airlines got their start? Hauling mail. From time to time, government can actually provide a spark that otherwise might not happen. Unfortunately, in most cases where a spark is needed, it is perverted into something like the example of “green energy.” Grants, loans and other politically motivated boondoggles like that are useless and only enrich the connected.
This is the essential difference in the Prize concept. No acheivement, no money. No grants to political donors. No taxpayer loans. It’s a put-up or shut-up deal.
I might add that this idea of space oriented prizes has been around for a long time. Jerry Pournelle had Newt and Dan Quayle talked into it as far back as ‘91. The idea is very simply based on getting government out of it until the task is accomplished.