The Final Frontier

Whoa, hey, when did space become a Republican issue?

Apparently, when Bush started talking about it.

Sure, we can't trust Dubya with a program to screw in a light bulb. I concede without reservation that the Bush Regime is utterly corrupt and incompetent. The last time I believed that this administration could do something right was in Afghanistan, shortly after the September 11 attacks. After all, how could they possibly let partisan foolishness or short attention span ruin our chances there again?

Man, did I learn my lesson. There is no job so important, no task so simple, that Rove can't screw it up by pandering to the regime's base.

And yes, we have no business starting some outrageously expensive project whose benefits are years if not decades down the line when the budget is half a billion dollars in the red. (Hm. My recent DMY column aside, maybe that is why they call them red states.)

However.

Space travel is our future. Not only are there vast scientific benefits to be reaped from the endeavor alone, not only are there endless resources to be found out there, resources that can be acquired without damaging our own precious biosphere, but sooner or later mankind must take to the stars. Whether because of our own carelessness with the environment, overpopulation, or just a slowly tiring world or star, eventually humanity must leave the cradle.

And conservative rhetoric aside (sorry, Admiral), does anyone out there honestly believe that businesses today are willing to make the huge long-term investments to get serious about space? Russia's space program is in tatters, China's just getting off the ground (and be honest -- do you really want them to have space superiority), and the EU is floundering. Only one nation has the resources, the structure, and the will to get us Out There.

Yes, these things take money. That means things like (gasp!) raising taxes, just like most of the other ways we need to undo the damage the Bush Regime has done. Still, liberals can't give up on the final frontier, even if Bush is using it as his latest propaganda set-piece. Space is too important to allow the rhetoric of the moment to hold our future hostage.

(/) Roland X
Who still has his Space Shuttle poster around here...somewhere...