Save NASA

Excessive Government spending on programs that are only designed to buy votes with the people’s tax money is crippling this nation. The politicians say that most of this spending is built in to the budget. Well who built it into the budget? Much of it has to do with President Johnson’s Great Society. Social security was stolen and much of the money that BP has set aside will never reach the people who need it. Roosevelt’s New Deal actually made the great depression worse. Large government programs rarely benefit we, the people. The government, any government, is a black hole which swallows the people’s hard earned wealth. Invariably these programs are put in place to make the powerful more powerful. This is what Progressivism has become. By the very nature of governance the government does not produce wealth or improve conditions for people. Government programs do not improve the economy and they are riddled with fraud. As far as I know there is only one exception to this, NASA.

Almost unique among government programs NASA has achieved an extraordinary level of success. Their Hubble telescope has exceeded what anybody could possibly have expected. Discoveries made by the Hubble telescope have shaken physics to its core. The shuttle too has exceeded reasonable expectations. The shuttle was a first attempt at a reusable space craft; 25 years later there is still no substitute for it. I feel we will regret putting them in “moth balls”. Tracking hurricanes has saved thousands of lives. NASA technology is all around us, improving our lives every day. Their technology has done far more to improve life than the Progressives ever have. Some people claim that the government’s investment in “green technology” will produce the same results. I think that unlikely.

The space program as we know it was originally conceived as a form of “one-ups-menship” during the cold war.  Exploration of space is an extraordinary challenge. The government should do the things that only the government can do. For now the risks associated with space exploration put it far beyond the tolerance of any private business. The challenge is one of the things that make NASA unique. This reaching beyond our perceived limits goes to the heart of what it means to be an American.

I said NASA was “almost” unique among government programs. Many decades ago they interviewed some of the people who worked on the Panama Canal. These people worked under conditions that were miserable beyond comprehension in the modern world. Nonetheless every person interviewed only remembered being so proud to be part of a great and meaningful project. The challenge and the fact that this kind of exploration goes to the heart of what it means to be an American is why NASA has been so successful. I doubt that any of these “green projects” will ever come near that kind of achievement.

While irresponsible politicians spend tax dollars on irresponsible projects, NASA is dieing.