Not EVERYONE unthinkingly swallows the blatant hype of a govt program claiming to replace a current WORKING approach with something allegedly but in fact not better and actually worse. Admitedly, most unquestioning folks do believe the hype, q.v. the US Healthcare 'crisis'. Remember Al Gore (Houston Chronicle articles I posted here on the HZ over a decade ago to the squeals of fact denying gorebots) claiming that in 1992 that his administration would finish the space station ahead of schedule and under budget? Remember the $1 billion hangar queen fiasco that was the X-33? Healthy fact based skepticism is a required attribute when govt wonks bloviate q.v. the ARES debacle.

Right from the beginning the shuttle was a compromise (a reluctant one) with the Air Force and their requirements. There were folks way back then who questioned the use of SRBs, the reliability Achillies Heel. And others who opined that the SSMEs were too high performance and therefore high maintenance. The US too often goes for ultimate hi-performance, hi-tech that ends up high maintenance and high cost. Sometimes even the Russkies get it right. Sometimes.