A long time ago, as a child, I drank some Faygo "Redpop". For some reason, it didn't taste all that good to me, but I kept buying it and marveling at the odd taste, wondering why I buy it when it really doesn't taste all that good?
These days I don't drink that, but I do conduct another sort of weird exercise that is quite similar: I have learned to visit Yahoo! News when certain sorts of stories emerge so I can peruse the comments there, which are about 75% wingnut.
Stories about race-based violence are really good, as are stories about climate change or, in this case, our current Mars mission, Mars Science Laboratory or MSL.
I am never disappointed by the Freeperazi there: it did not take long to find
(A) persons suggesting that this was all being faked, possibly in Area 51 (A no fly zone!!1!) and
(B) persons griping about the $2.5 billion price tag.
There are a lot of positive comments there, the sort one would expect from normally-curious people, but it's these anti-science, pro-conspiracy theory comments that stand out.
And they gave me an idea.
A big concern of the right is "big government" and wasteful spending. (Spending that that doesn't flow directly into the pockets of their cronies.)
I thought it would be interesting to do a quick comparison of a couple of different functions of our government, funded by the same tax dollars FORCIBLY TAKEN from the People; one that the right complains about and one that they generally don't.
For my more liberal perspective it is a comparison of bad government and good, of intelligent policy and expenditure of those monies versus a vast debacle.
Yes, I'm talking about the MSL versus the "War on Drugs", or WOD. The WOD is predominantly focused on suppressing the marijuana plants and those who would like to enjoy it. I know a lot of people reading feel this is just a nonsense complaint but, as Ben Masel ued to say:
As long as we're spending $50 billion a year on the drug war, there's no money for your issue.
This shouldn't take too long.
Mission Comparison: MSL vs WOD
MSL is reported to cost about $2.5 billion dollars. It is expected to last about 2 Earth years, perhaps a little longer.
WOD to cost somewhere between $20 and $50 billion dollars PER YEAR is reported, depending on what all is being included. It has been going on since the early 1970s and has reportedly now sucked up a trillion dollars.
MSL
demonstrate the ability to land a very large, heavy rover to the surface of Mars (which could be used for a future Mars Sample Return mission that would collect rocks and soils and send them back to Earth for laboratory analysis)
demonstrate the ability to land more precisely in a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) landing circle
demonstrate long-range mobility on the surface of the red planet (5-20 kilometers or about 3 to 12 miles) for the collection of more diverse samples and studies
As well as assess potential habitability for future endeavors.
WOD
ostensibly exists to "save lives", curtail drug use. Most of the effort, though, is at suppressing the cannabis plant, preventing commercial and medical exploitation of the plant and spreading purposeful misinformation about the plant and its possible effects.
MSL has already landed gently on Mars within about a mile and a halfof the target. 12 miles was the acceptable margin. It appears to have gone exactly as planned and is working properly so far.
WOD has escalated every year since it was launched, costing more and more and more money while drug use has remained largely unimpacted. It has caused a general and significant erosion of Constitutional rights and filled the American prison system with artificial criminals. It has led directly to countless fatalities of one sort or another.
MSL is on track to provide unprecedented scientific data which will advance mankind's scientific understanding of Mars and Earth and the Universe around us. This will be translated into education for many as well as scientific and industrial advancements.
WOD is on track to arrest nearly 850-900,000 Americans for simply touching the marijuana plant as well as spend enormous sums of tax dollars on what is essentially false advertising as well as raid medical marijuana clinics in states where the people have voted to allow them. Money will be spent to discourage and thwart scientific research of the benefits of cannabis, which is going on in other countries.This effort will also continue to thwart the re-establishment of cannabis agriculture in America, limiting job growth, businesses small and large, and supporting overseas jobs when these materials have to be imported.
MSL enjoys some political support but is a NASA program and NASA is one of those government programs targets for the budget axe over and over.
NASA plans to drop nearly $310 million from the budget for its Planetary Science division in 2013, a 20 percent cut that affects future missions to Mars, lunar science, and the study of the outer planets.
The cuts are part of a $17.7 billion budget request NASA unveiled Monday a mere 0.3 percent cut from the 17.8 billion Congress approved in November for 2012. But it represents a 5 percent cut from the $18.7 billion President Barack Obama penciled in for 2013 in the five-year budget he sent to Congress this time last year.
And it leaves NASA funded at its lowest level in four years, forcing the space agency to juggle priorities and "devastating planetary science," said Bill Nye, CEO of space exploration group The Planetary Society.
The WOD is extremely popular with politicians, particularly around election times. The WOD has fattened police budgets directly as well as providing incentives via forfeiture laws. Politicians won't even begin to talk about cutting this useless, wasteful institution.
It would seem that, from my biased perspective, that the MSL is a bargain, coming in at 10% of the cost of
just one year of the WOD yet delivering more positive impact than the WOD ever has or will.
Further, it is proof that government can and does work. I get so tired of hearing wingnuts talk about 'government' like it's some foreign virus.
Government can work, if and when it wants to,
Please feel free to add your insight and dos centavos in the comment section.