I just read that they are not going to launch the shuttle today, and to be honest I wish they would decide to scrap the whole thing. I’m not a huge fan of space travel. (And it has nothing to do with the fear of aliens.) I just think it’s so expensive and there are things we need to be investing money into now, here on our own planet, to save the Earth itself for future generations. The cost of sending one shuttle up to orbit around and do silly little experiments while on-board doesn’t really justify itself, in my mind. I know some of those experiments done on board in the past have lead to developments in medicine and other areas of science, but the problem is the damn cost!

I think that a lot of the time, we come off as a society that loves to glorify itself for its technological accomplishments. And that comes at the expense of the people; the flesh-and-blood that’s here, all around us, right now. This morning as I was driving down my street on the way to work, I passed a man on a bicycle, who had pulled over and was standing next to a large garbage can on the side of the road. This guy was fairly well-kept, but as I got closer I could see the telltale sun-dry skin and dirty hair under a threadbare baseball cap. He was waiting patiently while the cars when by, not wanting to go through the trash can while people could see him. I felt incredibly moved by his dignity, and desire to look like he was not about to open up a trash bin and look for anything he could use.

So I am thinking about the people like him when I say perhaps we should re-think the space program, and figure out ways to make better use of the money our country has been so blessed to have at our expense. I'm not anti-exploration or anti-discovery; I am just anti-wasteful spending.

Or perhaps we could look into ways to cut back on the damage we do to the earth itself. I’m sure if money and serious thought was invested into it, we could find a more environmentally-friendly way to raise animals for meat and dairy; something to replace the archaic methods we still use in commercial factory farming. Hell, we could probably get people moving on those projects to find new forms of energy and cut back on harmful toxins used in manufacturing. But of course, that would mean we would have to keep the people in the orange jumpsuits on the ground, and what would THAT say to the ‘forward-thinkers’; the people who think we need space exploration so we can one day find a new place to colonize (and subsequently destroy)? Wouldn’t the rest of the world say, “The United States are pussies, backing down and not launching shuttles anymore… they no longer command our respect, for they obviously have very small penises”? Oh, no! We can’t have that! U-S-A! U-S-A!!
And I hate to say it, for fear of people coming after me in the night: but what about taking care of the actual population of the planet? How about distributing birth control in impoverished areas of the country, and the world? Or taking just a fraction of what we spend to build a fuel tank for a shuttle and re-allocate it into the health care system? How about basic education? Raising minimum wage? We’ve got this dude at the helm of the country right now who seems to love spouting off about family values, yet the system as it is right now does nothing to support the growth and proliferation of the American family. Think about it: people can’t afford to spend time with the kids they have, largely because they need to work long hours at a low salary to afford the basics like housing and healthcare. So kids are growing up without parents that have the time, energy or even the motivation to raise them right. How motivated would you be if it seemed like every step ahead you took, something always seemed to come along to pull you back two financial steps. Stress kills motivation. Stress kills love. However, I think we know stress can lead to people drinking, partaking in mind-numbing entertainment and meaningless sex as a way of coping… and suddenly there are more unwanted kids in the world, with parents who don’t really want them anyway. The list goes on and on.

Nothing I am saying here is new (people have been hollerin' about the same argument since the 1960s, so I have a very outdated case here), and nothing I am going off on is something that hasn’t already been said by liberals and other public figures who are more well-spoken than I am here. But I keep thinking of the way that man by the garbage can acted this morning, and I really wish there was some way we could better spend our money so we are more like the civilized, valiant and responsible country we claim to be to the rest of the world. I only have two cents, and here they are. Now I will clam up and stay silent like the rest of us-- after all, it's not always a good idea to question the system anymore.