Ok, good arguments; isn't NASA also into R & D and therefore very tempted to apply the newly discovered software or the new technology into a program because it's so interesting and "promising"? (Transhab comes to mind; it was the the inflatable module meant for LEO, a Moonbase, a trip to Mars and a Marsbase); the problem: it came too late. Or did it? The space station was also late, but that's because (among other) of those added capabilities that had been thought of earlier and that NASA felt they should be added to the station, delaying it more.
The Moon program had a deadline, not the Shuttle nor ISS. That's also part of today's problems.
And, let's look at the Russians: old fashioned technology, very little evolution (a new Soyuz spacecraft ready for november 2002: the only innovation is the possibility for small and tall astronauts to ride it; that's about it).

A solution (perhaps):
A consortium of countries creates an organism (not for commercial puroposes) that selects and trains astronauts, builds capsules that are either meant as unmanned cargo vehicles, or manned capsules for up to 7 astronauts, or just 2 astronauts with a cargo or just 2 astronauts for higher orbits or 2-3 weeks long missions not involving a station; the capsules would be used as a rescue mean for the astronauts aboard either a station or a spaceship for the Moon or further (later, if and when it's decided); the capsules would not be reusable but could spend 1 or 2 years in space.
The capsules would be designed to be carried into LEO using any kind of commercial launcher capable of lifting 20 tons to LEO. Those launchers would mainly be used for 6-7 tons Geostationnary communication satellites and could be launched from any existing launch base using those heavy launchers like Proton, TitanIV, Ariane 5, and the new Delta version.

Raoul