The reason we’re not going to Mars is not because of politics or politicians. And it’s not because Joe Q. Public is so stupid he’d be afraid of discovering life on another planet while at the same time being “sophisticated” enough to recognize the shenanigans behind the political sound bites.

The reason we’re not going to Mars? Plain and simple: Joe Q. Public doesn’t *want* to go to Mars.

J.Q. Public is not even sure he wants to know what it would take to even get some one like himself to Mars. I think he does know and understands (more than most would give him credit for) just how expensive, time consuming and dangerous those questions might be to answer.

I also think J. Q. Public has learned something from Apollo: there’s a lot of things he should learn about himself and about his own environment long before he again attempts something just because it IS hard.

Doug.