Don’t get me wrong — there have been plenty of periods in my life when I wished for the chance to leave this planet, and never more so than during the Bush administration. But the whole idea of launching a new “vision thing” like a moon mission is so ridiculous and clearly designed to get a popularity boost. You know what I would do if I were president and could throw billions of tax dollars around?
- I’d build houses. Not crappy government housing, but decent, small houses that could ensure that every American had a home. I’m sure I could work out the details, but it could be a sort of deal like Habitat for Humanity, on a huge scale. That’s got to be better for the economy as a whole than a moon landing, right?
- Feed the world. With billions of dollars, there must be a way to eliminate hunger.
- Cure something. Cancer. AIDS. The common cold. Imagine if you threw $400 billion at one of those.
- Eliminate dependence on oil. Think about it — that has to be one of the most important steps to take before we can move into a future that includes a colony on the moon, space station hotels, and the movement of humanity off this planet. Throw a bunch of that money into researching and perfecting alternative fuels and sources of energy — fusion, solar, hydrogen — and once we’ve done away with oil, coal, and other polluting energy sources, imagine the difference… a cleaner and more peaceful planet that we might then not want to leave.
Just some ideas, that’s all.
