"To boldly go where no one has gone before."

Should We?

For someone whose formative years wre the '60s, most likely your answer would be a resonding, YES.  I know, there will be those today who say we can not afford the cost; that we have too many social problems here to solve.  I maintain that it is not about the money.  We spend tens of billions of dollars each year on items with questionable value, including $17 billion for NASA, who has been rudderless and without a true mission for decades.  It is less about the money as it is about the politcal fortitude and vision to invest in the future.

The '60s had their share of social and political problems.  We were losing more brave men and women in Vietnam every year than were have lost in the Iraq and Afganistan wars combined.  We had such civil unrest that we were burning our cities and killing our own people.  We killed two Kennedys and a King in a five years period.  The National Guard shot and killed college students.  We burned Los Angeles and Detroit.  We had a presidental scandle that forced the President to resign (after his VP had already resigned for different reasons).  Forget the "Bush stole the election" retoric.  We had a President who never even ran for the office - he was APPOINTED.  We lived under the daily threat, not of a terrorist attack, but of nuclear annihilation.  Can you say, Cuban Missile Crisis and Arms Race?

Sorry for the history lesson, but, through all that, we not only survived and prospered and addressed the social issues that were threatening to tear the country apart, we also somehow managed to accomplish the greatest technological feat in human history.  Some may even argue that the challange, effort and accomplishments of sending a man to the Moon helped the coutry through those troubling times.

The space program of the '60s was in the forefront of the nation's mind.  Every week something noteworthy happened to excite us and bolster our resolve.  Despite the problems all around, the space program inspired our daily lives and provided hope, a tangible hope we could see, not a mere political slogan without substance.  Even Civil Rights leader Ralph Abernathy, who was at the Apollo 11 launch to protest spending money on space exploration with so many injustices on Earth stated after the launch,  "I really forgot the fact that we had so many hungry people. I was one of the proudest Americans as I stood on this spot."

That was the power and inspriation generated when the nation resolved "To boldy go where no one has gone before".  It could be that way again.

Can We ...

The short answer is no.  

Will We ...