It does not take someone who is particularly observant to know that some things are not going well for Americans these days.
Poverty is still rampant across the country; public schools seem to struggle harder and harder each day to function effectively; highways and roads are often not maintained properly; and of course, we are living in a state where acts or threats of terrorism affect many people’s daily lives.
Of course now is the perfect time to work on creating a new society in outer space.
Recently, President Bush announced a new initiative in our travels in outer space. The Washington Post reports that Bush wants to “extend a human presence across our solar system, starting with a return to the moon within 16 years to build a permanent staging ground for manned missions to Mars and planets beyond.”
Let us make one thing clear: this is not President Kennedy challenging Americans to beat the Russians in the space race. This is President Bush trying to find a new place for Dick Cheney to hide.
Actually that’s not true, but what is true is that this is manifest destiny crossed with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. George Bush wants humans (Americans more specifically) to be able to journey deeper into space, but at what cost?
To be specific, $12 billion, including the 5% increase in NASA’s budget over the next three years.
Coincidentally, 5% is the proposed raise in CCE tuition next year, but I don’t think a space race is a very Guilford thing. I believe a race for a good spot in the Binford lot is more likely, but I digress.
No, what really offends me is that President Bush said that this plan can be put into effect relatively cheaply. Bush makes it appear that $12 billion is not a lot of money, but $12 billion is a lot of Benjamin’s baby. That money could be put to much better use than trotting around the universe.
For example, the National Education Association reports that President Bush’s own program of “No Child Left Behind” is not being funded enough by the government and is causing severe problems in many public schools.
“Under pressure from ‘No Child Left Behind’,” said the NEA, “Yonkers, New York, is spending more on test preparation while eliminating 233 teaching positions and all athletic, visual arts, vocal, and instrumental programs, and halving the ranks of public safety officers in the high schools. Yonkers also plans to cut 41 guidance counselors, 28 librarians, and 30 social workers by the end of the following school year.”
In North Carolina, vocational programs for seventh graders and school lunch initiatives are being cut, while in Durham County, 112 positions (mostly teachers and teacher assistants) have been cut.
Another way to spend this money is to give it away. There are 22 members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, and the United States in 2002 gave 0.12% of our gross national product in what is referred to as Official Development Assistance (ODA).
One of the great lies perpetrating America today is that we are the most giving nation, when we are just the opposite. I know we can give more and if we can agree that one of the roots of terrorism is poverty, then let’s work towards eliminating poverty worldwide not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it will make us a safer nation.
One more final use for that money: stimulate the economy! In what must be the shock of the century, giving tax breaks to the already insanely wealthy didn’t stimulate the economy. When the President announced his tax cuts, he also said that 306,000 jobs would be created a month whether directly or indirectly stimulated by the tax cut. In November of 2003, only 57,000 jobs were filled, falling far short of the set goal and putting the President farther behind his goal of job creation.
I want to say for the record, that I like outer space; I think it’s a cool idea and learning new things is almost always productive. I do believe however that this type of “mission” the President gives to the American people is just a distraction technique. There are real and serious problems facing this country and most are not covered in my far from comprehensive list and I know for sure that none of them are going to solved by going to Mars.
The more the President talks about the things he is doing, he gets to avoid talking about what he is not doing. Let us work practically and effectively to put America on a road to recovery and not only for ourselves, but also for the betterment of a global community.