re: Are we just a bunch of grumpy old futurists?
Distilling the article down to basics:
The hippies won. Technical progress is no longer an American value. Deal with it.
No wonder Spider was depressed.
The last part is good, though:
For those who believe that space is a viable solution to contemporary problems, what can we do?
The answer's very simple: prove it.
For engineers, prove it: build affordable civilian space transportation. However small a start, however humble an effort, prove the concept.
For advocates, prove it: make the case without assuming we're all suddenly transported back to the Fifties, or supplied with zillion-dollar budgets or barrels of unobtanium. Leaders don't whine about how lame their troops are: they train them, educate them, inspire them, and lead.
Good advice, and I don't believe we are that far from making this happen.