Whatever the government can do, the private sector can do faster, cheaper, and better. I love space and rockets just as much as anyone here, but I'm not so sure the government is the best way to get this stuff done. If there is a real NEED to go to Mars (or land on asteroids, or return to the moon, etc.) then private enterprise will make it happen.
I have high hopes that Elon Musk or someone like him will be behind the next space adventures. Hopefully the government will drop out of the business sooner than later and stop wasting tax money on programs that burn billions of dollars and then get cancelled because some politician wants a different rocket built in HIS state instead of what is being done now.
Back in the 60's when the race with the Russians was taking place there was an actual need for the government to be involved, we are currently in a race with nobody and even if we were - beating the Chinese to mars isn't going to have the same effect that beating the Russians to the moon did.
Having the government out of the way will be better for us all.
Good observations, and I tend to agree...
It's worth noting that the government (NASA) has been working on Orion for TEN YEARS now... (since the VSE was first announced in 2004 following the Columbia disaster). That's a VERY long time, and a LOT of money, and basically they've said the capsule isn't even finished-- not by a longshot... they still have to do most of the life support and crew control console design work, seats, interior fittings, etc... Basically this was just a "boilerplate" vehicle... the actual heat shield and propulsion system, thermal control, etc. Even so, they're talking like they plan to redesign the heat shield AGAIN... ALL that development time and money, and we're talking about the basic structures of the capsule and avionics... A HUGE chunk of the work remains to be done! Plus, there won't be another flight for THREE YEARS, and another FOUR after that until the next one! To top it all off, they don't even have a Service Module... todays mission was flown with basically a weighted "tuna can" mass simulator in place of the Service Module. NASA doesn't even have the MONEY to develop an SM... they've farmed that out now to the Europeans, who are adapting their HTV ISS resupply vehicle systems into a Service Module. It's a "tentative" arrangement, in that ESA is building the SM for the EM-1 flight... if it suits NASA, they'll probably get the contract to build the SM's for the rest of the missions... (whatever missions end up flying... basically, NOTHING is planned past the first manned "test flight", EM-2, sometime around 2024...) Basically, the COMPLETED, capable of being manned Orion won't fly until 2021... EIGHTEEN YEARS after the decision to build the CEV, which became Orion, was made...
This glacial pace certainly doesn't inspire any confidence... and it begs the question-- is it worth the expense?? In addition there is a LONG, LONG time between now and ANY manned missions, and *I* think it's going to be INCREASINGLY difficult to sustain interest and support for such an expensive, yet glacial program with so little to show for it for the average taxpayer, Congressman, Administration, etc... We're just one big war, economic collapse, whatever, from the whole thing being canceled and forgotten... plus, as you said, on a more mundane level, just the everyday POLITICS over what gets built by whom in whose Congressional district... Any and all of which could end the entire thing...
Personally, I DO think that NASA should have just contracted out the entire thing-- let various companies ("old space" and "new space" alike) come up with proposals to meet the requirements NASA sets, and then contract them to design and build the launchers and vehicles... When NASA says it will cost them around $36 BILLION DOLLARS to turn already existing shuttle components into a shuttle derived heavy lift vehicle, and Elon Musk says he can build an ALL NEW, FROM SCRATCH all liquid HLV with new engines, new stages, etc. for $3.5 billion, something is VERY WRONG...
It's time to try something new. Of course, Congress is completely against it... they've been foot-dragging over Commercial Crew since day one, since it doesn't funnel money to the "right contractors" in the "right Congressional districts"... They've steadfastly REFUSED to fund Commercial Crew at anything like the requested amounts, while relying ENTIRELY on the Russians for transport of our astronauts to the ISS which we've spent over $100 BILLION dollars on already... THAT is a broken system for you...
There aren't any "pat answers"... I think that the 'average guy or gal' in NASA is doing the best they can, trying to be a success... but they're mired in an ancient and Byzantine BUREAUCRATIC system both within NASA and over it, and simply stuck trying to make lemonade out of the lemons they have, and put the best spin on it possible. If the situation were to really be fixed, I think it would take an almost ENTIRE paradigm shift, a commitment to changing the entire way that the entire enterprise actually works, and reorganize from the ground up. Problem is, there are SO many vested interests, SO many "powers that be", who DON'T want to see the applecart upset, because they'd lose their position, power, and money, that it'll never happen...
Later! OL JR