Thank you Tom, this is an issue which does have legitimate political overtones.
Clearly, we either
1: have to tax people, most of whom don't give a rip about space, or
2: wait until private enterprise can make a profit doing it.
Now, the problem with the first method is that political conservatives regard taxation as anathema, and
the problem with the second is that it's just not profitable to go past fairly near Earth.
Politically, as far as far space goes, free enterprise conservatives are hoisted on their own petards - don't tax, get the government out, let profits rule. Space exploration isn't a priority, and won't be. No matter how the real, real die-hard conservatives try to spin it, the hard facts of the current administrations budget says exactly that. Read it and weep, as they say.
So, the American public elect a politically liberal US government which can see tax cuts, wait for a profit to be made by granting ownership of Mars, for instance, to the first company which can get there, or whine about not doing much.
Regards,
Arf
Space/Science » in reply to Old news.
Profits