wrote in message
oups.com...
Are we not in control, (we the people, (LOL))?

The people are never directly in control. The representatives they elect
are in control. In the US, we directly elect the Congress and the Senate
and the very top of the Executive branch (president and vice-president).
Those people we don't elect, are either appointed (like judges) or hired
(like most of the executive branch) by elected representatives.

Because of the above, corporations and special interest groups hold a lot of
power in the US because they have a very significant influence over
elections in the US.


Specifically, NASA's funding is determined by the legislature, so you could
theoretically, get Congress and the Senate to pass a bill mandating that
NASA run a space lottery. As long as the president doesn't veto the bill,
it would become law. Assuming that it wasn't challenged and declared
unconstitutional, NASA would have to run the lottery.

But it will never happen.

It is we who can force
something to happen, (with enough pressure). It does not matter what
NASA is interested in!

Actually, it does matter. Congress and the Senate pay fairly close
attention to what direction the Executive Branch (i.e. the presidet, his
aides, the NASA Administrator, and etc) wants to take NASA. They also take
into account input from other sources like the GAO. I doubt the GAO would
look favorably on a space lottery. They already complain that NASA doesn't
know where it spends its money. I doubt they would look favorably on
anything as uncertain as a lottery.

We can make them do what we wish with our funds,
(Just look what the tree huggers have gotten done with all this earth
sen. crap). Lets just do a mail in camp. to congress, (Lotto! Lotto!
Lotto!)! Hell it work to save New Hor., Hubble, and Belly button lint
on The Ice Caps. I know this is not a noble cause, (But what the hell,
(It would be really cool if you won)).

Of course there is the giggle factor coming into play here as well. When
you propose something which is universally seen as silly on the surface,
people can't stop laughing long enough to give the finer points serious
consideration.

Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)