This obvious fact often has the result of making these guys sound more like troublemakers. One putative Greatness Conservative is Charles Krauthammer. He recently made a powerful case in The Weekly Standard for sending men to Mars. I agree with Krauthammer. Great civilizations create great cathedrals, and the cathedrals of this generation should be in outer space.
Cathedrals inspire rich and poor people alike to believe great things are possible.
The Mars Polar Lander cost the average American the price of half a cheeseburger. That is no great sacrifice. But if great sacrifice is the measure of true greatness, then the answer does not lie on the surface of Mars. One need only look to the area on this planet where it appears time is moving in the wrong direction. The average African is indisputably worse off today than he was thirty or forty years ago.