Building a rocket

I've got a stack of magazines at home that every once in a while I pick from and look through a magazine. The June 5th issue of Time (no longer avaialble online) has a backpage essay comparing the cold war to Iraq. The article itself isn't that interesting, but a photo used to illustrate the article is.

It's a photo of 4 teenage boys in a garage building a home made rocket. It was taken in 1957. The point of using it to illustrate the article is about how America was spurred by Sputnik to win the Cold War by just being better than them. That's not the message the photo actually sent me though.

I thought about how much we've changed. If boys today did what the boys in that photo did they'd be arrested. Probably their parents would also be arrested for allowing the boys access to explosives.

Can you say Police State? Did we really win the Cold War?