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Of visionaries and visions

Bush has proposed his new space program: building a permanent presence on the moon and eventually sending humans to Mars.

And the way it was presented (with the appropriate pomp and circumstance, of course) follows the same subtle pattern that defines how he treats opposition in general: “you are either with us, or with the terrorists”. Scratch the last part and replace it with “or you have no vision” or “you are not a patriot”, “you are simply stupid” or “we aren’t even sure you are human”. For after all, so he announces profoundly, exploring is what being human is all about. Well, thanks for the reminder.

And with rhetorics like that, here is what happens: public debate in general gets a bad name. Who now would dare to publicly question the value of such an undertaking when the first argument you encounter is of such epic proportions such as “What, you are against exploration”?. Change the context, scratch that last part and replace it with “What, you are against freedom”? or “What, you are against national security”?. You get the point.

Now, I am not going to get into the “there are visions to tackle here on Earth first” debate. Although that is most certainly true (and — at the present time — cannot be stressed enough), I am a proponent of space exploration, as well. At least in principle. But I am also a proponent of public debate in America, and the principle of “everthing in due time”. And what I see here is just another example of just how disconnected the current political class in America is from just that. Aside from the fact that the space initiative smells largely like a calculated measure in the coming election, the putting of it on the plate at this time is nothing other than saying: ‘Today, I have nothing else to offer to you than my vision of 2020. But make no mistake, I do have a vision. And you are either with the visions or against them’. Or with television. Or both. End of discussion.

Oh right, the cost of all this. Actually, it’s a bargain. Just one billion dollars more than NASA was going to spend anyway. But here’s a secret: When we get the military on board, we’ll make this whole thing a matter of national security. And then, my friends, we can pump some real money into this. Because who will dare to hold anyone accountable? Your are, after all, for national security, right?

And what if the whole Lunar-Mars enterprise doesn’t work out in the end? Well, we can always blame the French.

Posted by Chefredaktion at January 15, 2004 11:18 AM