Unless I'm reading you wrong, it seems that you're falling for the mindset that NASA isn't just another government bureaucracy.

You're reading me wrong, Bronco breath. :)
I've posted ad nauseum that I think NASA is a jobs program, not a space program. I agree that NASA has had no meaningful goals post Apollo.

The writer of the essay opines that NASA is NOT the vehicle that will lead to human spaceflight. I agree. I've said many times that before we go to Mars or whatever, flight technology has to become affordable enough for a willing multi-billionaire philanthropist to fund it. Sometime post the 2030s.

What I do think will happen in the shorter timeframe is that suborbital tech will allow private Alan Shepard jaunts at affordable proces for the rich. Something around $20-$50K per person per flight. I believe there's a market there, one that will be met later this decade. This build a little fly a lot approach may evolve into commercial transcontinental, ballistic glide multi-passenger service in the 2020s. Austrailia in 90 minutes.

-p (on 2nd thought, who'd ever want to go there?)