I have to say I’m somewhat opposed to the idea of space exploration as the next great federal endeavor. For three reasons: one, it’s been done already. We’ve already come together and rallied around the idea that space is our destiny and it is our nature to investigate the unknown and seek out new frontiers. Second, it’s not a pressing concern. There is no real rush to get to Mars or build a space elevator. Third, I agree with Sam Stone (not an everyday occurrence) that the private sector should and ultimately will be taking the next step in space and eventually space commerce.
Renewable fuel on the other hand is of a clear and present necessity. Not because I think we’re going to run out of oil imminently, and not because I think some threshold is looming after which global warming is irreversible, but because of the political and economic repercussions of the oil trade. It’s a dirty market akin to blood diamonds where tyrants, strong men, and their cabal use the dollars of the industrialized world to maintain a stranglehold on entire nations of impoverished masses chafing under repressive rule. Why should democracy of any order emerge in a society where the money and the wishes of the people are of no consequence? I’m not speaking only out of some bleeding-heart desire for social justice, but for reasons economic conservatives can relate to as well. The unrest that is the byproduct of the oil business ends up costing us in ways that don’t always show up at the gas pump. The War on Terror is as much about economics as it is about ideology. Talk of, “They hate our way of life,” is not only a simplistic explanation, it’s deficient. The oil does matter.
Furthermore, those that argue that renewable fuels, which is a list longer than just hydrogen, are too expensive or have too many hurdles ahead of them are missing the point of a Manhattan Project. The idea is to choose a nigh impossible task and do it, and in short order. Take a goal that should take 50 years to accomplish and do it in 10.