Looks like the only people interested in supporting a space program are us, the people here on this site, and other space enthusiast organizations. We don’t have the influence and numbers to convince those who do have the money to go forward. I hope I’m wrong but maybe the battle is lost for now. Everywhere I look I see retrenching. Things are going backwards. I want to be 20 again. In 1960 we were in a battle with the soviets, but everyone was looking forward to great things. Now it’s just depressing. Where has the future gone?
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The facts. The welfare state has grown exponentially while space has shrunk. The only reason we have ISS is because congress realized that it was a jobs program not a space program. They could win re-election by bringing pork jobs to their district. The space theme was irrelevant. Go back in time to the 1960s. Were the elderly dying in the streets in masses because of no medicade, no prescription drug benefits? Were schools disfunctional in edcuating kids with no multi-billion dollar NEA? Actually college board scores were higher.

Look at politics today. Most people vote for the candidates promising to loot more of the federal budget (paid for by working folk) for the voter's special interests.