This is the bitter fruit of leftism

It may not be fair to blame this all on the left.  We conservatives share some of the blame for this.  But let's consider just the current president, and what he did to the space program in his most recent budget.   This quote says it well:

What's also embarrassing is that the U.S. is falling behind its rivals in scientific research. The Large Hadron Collider is in Switzerland because Congress canceled the construction of our much larger atom smasher, the Superconducting Super Collider, in 1993. In addition, many of our laboratories studying nuclear fusion are closing, while France plans to open a nuclear-fusion reactor in 2019. Finally, the U.S. is ceding the manned space program to China. "In 2025, don't be surprised if a Chinese flag is placed on the moon," Mr. Kaku warns.

The space program isn't considered science, according to this administration.  So, it doesn't get fully funded.  Never mind that the entire NASA budget is less than 1% of spending, so that the abolition of NASA wouldn't make much of a difference in the budget.  But look what is being trashed- the space program.  Sure, certain programs are being kept, but their meaning pales in comparison because of the lack of commitment to human space flight.  So, it just withers away, like so much of the rest of our society.

The sorry state of affairs is not the sole province of the left- there are those who call themselves conservative, or libertarian, who also would rather these programs be cut.  This gives cover for Obama.  If there was a commitment to human space flight, this wouldn't be happening.

My point is that left is happy to do this.  It is too bad that "conservatives" are enabling them to do it.  Guys like Romney, for example.