President Bush is planning to send astronauts to Mars. He could look like a man with vision, perhaps even Kennedyesque. But aside from improving Bush’s image in an election year, who benefits and who pays?
There may well be resulting scientific advances. But the same could be said for a great many scientific projects, including life-or-death medical research, for which the government is providing inadequate funding.
No one knows how much this will cost, and the costs could go on for decades. Major beneficiaries would be defense and aerospace contractors. Future generations would pay. Massive debt threatens to destroy the economy for future generations. The Bush environmental policies also threaten future generations. And his “with-us-or-against-us” foreign policy has made the future much less secure. Perhaps the Mars plan is an attempt to offset some of this future harm. But this is one expensive gamble. If we’re going to gamble, why not put the money into something, perhaps medical research, where someone can better articulate the likely benefits and costs? Any gamble should be paid for, not with more borrowing but through tax increases on the same wealthy individuals who have benefited far disproportionately from this administration’s policies.
