William Atkins
Saturday, 11 April 2009 23:00
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
We have spent billions of dollars on the space station and now Congress is thinking of canceling the funds on the project. Why are we even thinking about canceling the project?
We do this a lot of this abandonment in the United States.
We fund education for several years because our students begin to trail other countries’ kids and then we forget about the funding after their grades get better. We abandon education for awhile, and teachers gripe while grades fall from A, to B, to C, and to D. Then the cycle repeats itself.
Why don’t we consistently and regularly fund important basic (core) projects like education, heath care, defense, infrastructure (highways, buildings, dams, bridges) and quit bouncing them up and down like a yo-yo?
If we don’t have sufficient funds to maintain the Space Station, why don’t we ask our government officials:
"Why don’t we enough money?" and
"How are you spending our money" and
"Is it spent efficiently and wisely?"
You are more than welcome to write them letters at:
House of Representatives (
http://www.house.gov/) and Senate (
http://www.senate.gov/).
Why don’t we, instead of abandoning projects mid-way into them, appropriate sufficient monies because they are important to our country.
If we decide later they aren’t important, then stop them after they have finished their useful lives, and not before. I just have a real problem with this throw-away mentality.
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