Dismantle NASA

[CommonSense]

It's time that we dismantle NASA and leave space travel to the people. NASA's recent performance has been troubling at best, tragic at worst. America should turn the job over to private companies that would want to explore space. This year a private company sent a man into space to orbit the earth successfully. This shows us that the country is ready for private space travel from now on. The Columbia disaster and now the questions surrounding Discovery have the American worried about the future of astronauts under NASA's watch.

[americanpride]

I'm not so sure yet.

Governments have proved instrumental in establishing new fields and technologies - everything from discovering the New World to atomic technology. While after all major obstacles are overcome, the private sector is usually a good caretaker of the new field.

[CommonSense]

There will be no question about this if Discovery comes down in flames.

[tits]

Since I first enlisted in the Corps to today we have seen the majority of the base infrastructure be shifted from DOD to civilian contractors. The Corps of Engineers is a business ran by GS employees that contract everything to the lowest bidder.

There is a theoretical debate that lies bubbling just beneath the surface of the war in Iraq, civilian contact military forces.

I personally believe that we are at a crossroad. We must privatize education, but that cannot be given to the lowest bidder alone. New criteria must be established where the best services for the lowest price is utilized. Out education system has been failing us for years. It is not that minorities cannot perform the duty, it is that we have allowed the standards to be lowered to permit a quota system to flourish. It is time that the bar be raised to a level that the future generations will not fail us. This can only be done if the instructor is able to show a proficiency in their field. Engineers, chemist, accountants, doctors, toxicologist, etc. all have professional accountability and proficiency. Why not teachers?

This is true for NASA and CDC and NIOF and OSHA and all facets of government. NASA and the other agencies are populated by some of the most educated and wisest people in the world. The problem is management and the contracting system of always being limited by the lowest bidder. Anything the politician has ran breaks after a while.

The problem is that there are few instruments other than political to govern the performance of federal and state agencies. NASA already contracts almost 75% of the efforts.

How would dismantle the program?

The Saturn V lunar program employed approximately 675,000 Americans and 24,000 government employees.

[americanpride]

The advantage of government work - if its NASA or education, etc - is the vast, nearly limitless resources at its disposable to offer benefits, pay, investments, etc.

As you indicated Tittus, the problem comes in the form of management and standards.

The NAZIs prior to WWII simply invented a number of currencies - one earmarked solely for military purchases for example - and this jumpstarted their economy, their military, and their technological development.

I think our nearly total obsession with the free market is blinding us to practical solutions and our national well-being. It has its advantages, but it also has its consquences.

[tits]

americanpride said:

The advantage of government work - if its NASA or education, etc - is the vast, nearly limitless resources at its disposable to offer benefits, pay, investments, etc.

As you indicated Tittus, the problem comes in the form of management and standards.

I think our nearly total obsession with the free market is blinding us to practical solutions and our national well-being. It has its advantages, but it also has its consequences.

I agree Chris, but this is where my conservative hat bias my perception. On one hand all politicians work to maintain the gravy in their districts, no matter how much of a financial drain it is. I mean Kit Bond worked to move Ft. McCellen’s chemical school and the military police school to Ft. Leonard Wood just to save the base from BRAC. Ft. Leonard Wood is the major employer for the Ozark region of Missouri. Don’t get me wrong I have known Kit since he ran for Lt. Governor, he is friend of my father, and I respect his conservative views. However, he will intervene to save Missouri Jobs at the expense of the National taxpayer.

On the other hand, the Democrats have dug themselves so deep into the quagmire of pandering to minorities that they are still using the Roosevelt government make work to carry the economics. I truly doubt that the Democrats will do anything to privatize any government agency other than DOD and NASA. I HATE THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITEE AND I HATE THE TALKING HEADS WHO FOLLOW THE ASS! THEIR MAIN THUST IS TO DIVIDE AND TO SERVE SELF INSTEAD OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

[americanpride]

Well - as you certainly know, my perceptions are rather unorthodox. I have little respect for either political party, which is why I did not vote last year.

Nor do I have much use for the labels of 'conservative' or 'liberal' - I prefer practical.

The more I study politics and history, the more I desire to see a meritocracy - where a permenant, unchanging nation-state is constructed within which talented and driven individuals pursue whatever is to their hearts' content. I am less and less of the opinion that individual and Nation are mutually exclusive and I believe there can be constructed a system that is equally advantageous to both.

[tits]

In fact, I have been praying that the DNC and RNC are laid low. The news last week of the UAW leaving the AFL-CIO because of politics gave me encouragement.

I was raised in a split family. Father was German-American and very powerful in the Missouri Pachyderm. Mother's father was a Democrat Federal Judge appointed by Roosevelt. Two of his sons served in country offices as democrats and a cousin is a DA in St. Louis. The entire family is devoutly Democrat whereas Dad's family is devoutly Republican.

I have met some very important and powerful people in my life. The politician is almost schizoid because the Washington person seldom resembles the private man. I consider John Ashcroft more than an acquaintance, he is not the man the DNC and the talking heads painted him to be.

What angers me is the National Party platforms seldom truly represent the majority of Americans. Yet, a very powerful select few seem to dictate policy and platform. I am sick of the politician standing by the Platform and not the people.

I am greatly angered because since Nixon, it seems the goal is to defame the person in office instead of offering reasonable goals and alternatives. The Clinton years found most of the RNC leaders attacking Clinton and seldom did we hear of alternatives.

I ceased the THC months ago because none of the Neo-Libs could deny that they were disappointed in the DNC choices for candidates. Even HistoryMinor, Grump, Leppy, and CRW admitted that they voted for the lesser of two evils.

What is wrong with the system that the majority of Americans chose to vote for the lesser of two evils rather than standing firmly behind a candidate. Why do the National Committees rely on faulty polls to dictate platforms and candidates? Why do the 1.2% female and 2.3% male homosexual community have so much power that they dictate policy?

Yes, I am confused and very very very disappointed. I don't know about "meritocracy - where a permanent, unchanging nation-state is constructed within which talented and driven individuals pursue whatever is to their hearts' content.". But I do agree that it is time for a change. I like the Captain Ramius line inRed October ""A little revolution now and then is a good thing."

I guess that I need to cool down and take some quiet time about this.

[americanpride]

Factionalism. The problem James Madison warned us about more than 200 years ago.