America’s wonderful president, George W. Bush, has proposed a plan to work toward a permanent American presence on the moon and an eventual manned mission to Mars.
So what? This may seem like it is a good move for U.S. space exploration, but it is really just Bush’s way of manipulating November’s presidential election.
According to a White House aide whose identity remains anonymous, helping immigrants and extending the nation’s ability to explore outer space were Bush’s personal goals long before his bid for re-election. Bush has obviously run out of places to hold fundraisers on this planet.
Bush’s big plan to fund his man-in-space venture includes cutting money from existing NASA budgets such as the shuttle program.
Why do all of Bush’s plans involve money being cut from somewhere or higher taxes being imposed? There have already been two large tax cuts and a change in Medicare prescription drug benefits that may cost $2 trillion over the next 20 years. And this year a large corporate tax cut is scheduled. The federal government is drowning in $500 billion worth of debt and the deficit is only likely to rise. Moon rocks are nice, but you can’t pay off debt with them.
Congress must not and should not consider Bush’s malarkey. This idea is nothing but a foolish thought. But Bush is famous for having foolish thoughts. Welcoming illegal aliens and “Operation: Iraqi Freedom” are evidence of that.
Bush is going where we went decades ago. Space experts say that getting to the moon again, much less landing there, will not necessarily be easier than it was the nine times it was explored between 1968 and 1972.
So why the moon? Once again, Bush has run out of places to hold fundraisers. What’s really behind this new Bush trial balloon?
It’s just a way of shifting our thoughts about why the weapons of mass
destruction – the so-called reason behind the bombs over Baghdad – have not been discovered.
This is election year. Bush’s stunt just creates another subject for people – especially voters – to talk about.
The moon talk serves as Bush’s platform for re-election. The moon talk serves as Bush’s pick-me-up topic of the campaign.
It hits all the right patriotic notes and lets him chatter about his vision and America’s future in a positive way. We should look at the federal ledger and find what’s so positive about the deficit.
America needs to ignore and tune out all this moon talk.
Bush needs to face reality: It’s over. Give up. America doesn’t need you for another four years.
Moon rocks are nice but you can’t pay off a debt with them.
Kaye Dallas for the Editorial Board