Priorities, or Why We Can't Take Education For Granted

Let's just get this out in the open:  I think we should colonize other worlds, and I think we should do it yesterday.  There is no greater aspiration that I have than to facilitate the beginning of a diaspora of the human race to the rest of the solar system, and even (or especially) beyond.  Perhaps "trickle" would be a better word than diaspora, though, to begin with.

And that's all I feel I need to say about that, if all that stood in the way was the engineering.

Except that there are so many other things that go into such a feat.  Some things I can think of off the top of my head are education, politics (unfortunately), and public interest.