Bush's Space Folly

By Adam Werbach, AlterNet. Posted January 12, 2004.

When President Kennedy stood before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961 to announce the Apollo Project, he set America on a bold path towards exploring our universe. It was the stuff of dreams. It was also a deliberate piece of foreign relations and domestic fiscal policy. President Bush's space policy is more like the item on a kid's Christmas list right before world peace.

In 1961, Kennedy found himself challenged by a hostile and growing Soviet empire in a race to seize countries as if they were pawns on a chessboard. Shortly after his inauguration, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion left Kennedy with public and private doubts about his leadership abilities. Khrushchev's threat to unilaterally solve the Berlin "problem" was a constant threat. Meanwhile, 5.5 million Americans were unemployed and business bankruptcies had reached their highest level since the 1930s. America seemed to be searching for a direction after Kennedy's divisive and razor-thin election victory. America was still reeling from the eerie beeping sound of the Sputnik spacecraft that they could see floating above them among the stars on a clear night in October 1957.

It was within this context that Kennedy addressed a special joint session of Congress and said:

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

Kennedy's statement was not an empty policy pronouncement. It was a message sent to the Soviet Union that America would challenge the growth of communism and totalitarianism on any field. It was a message to the capital markets that America would pour billions of dollars into the economy and provide a fiscal stimulus not seen since wartime. It was a message to schoolteachers and students that America needed to step up its math and science education in order to achieve this national endeavor. We still use the phrase "you don't have to be a rocket scientist" because rocket science was elevated to the top badge of intelligence.

President Bush's announcement of a new space policy for the United States will also be taken as a major foreign relations and fiscal policy announcement. Bush is hoping to signal to the American people that he does not lack "the vision thing" that was frequently cited as a reason his father lost his second term. Like the 1960s, America's economy is struggling through a jobless recovery and the prospect of the largest federal deficit in American history. The Fed has already lowered interest to historic lows, and the Federal government has poured billions of dollars into tax cuts, military spending and new Federal programs like Homeland Security. America now faces a risk of signaling that it will undertake profligate spending through a space program. In light of the growing deficit, new federal spending programs should instead be designed as investments with a clear payback.

As a piece of foreign relations, Bush's space program sends all the wrong signals. America has flexed its muscles mightily in Iraq to the consternation of the rest of the world. An America-first space program sends the message to conspiracy-loving Europeans that this world is not enough for American conquest. By reprioritizing the international space station, America is choosing to go it alone one more time.

On the same day of the President's announcement, an unlikely alliance of labor unions, environmentalists, high tech leaders, and civil rights leaders will announce their proposal for a new Apollo Project for clean energy jobs in America. The proposal, in development for over two years, has been endorsed by 17 major labor unions and some of the largest environmental groups in the country. Unlike President Bush's hastily drafted plan, this new Apollo Project will pay for itself and create more than three million new jobs, according to an independent corporate economist. Instead of making America less secure by antagonizing our friends and allies, this Apollo Project moves America towards energy independence, which will make us safer.

Reaching Mars is a noble goal, and it should be pursued by America. But this is not the time, nor is this the way to do it. The world is calling out for leadership from America demonstrating that America sees its destiny as tied to the fate of the rest of the countries on the planet. Bush's new space folly is the wrong signal to the world, and the wrong signal to the economy. Apparently he still needs some help with the vision thing.

Adam Werbach is the executive director of the Common Assets Defense Fund, and a board member of the Apollo Alliance.

              

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