Now that the government has lots of money to throw around, it is time for America to get back into space.

Yes, it’s true. America has the cash to fund a top-notch space program.

All it would take is a quick transfer of funds from military technology to space technology.

It would be more of a philosophical change than anything. Let’s face it, a large portion of the military projects the country is funding have more to do with preventing unemployment than they do with defending the country.

Diverting military money to space projects could make a huge difference to the space program while not affecting the level of employment that our bloated “defense” budget is designed to subsidize. The contractors would just change their projects.

The most common criticism of spending billions on space is the lack of clear-cut objectives there. When all our high-tech money goes into military equipment, there is always the chance for us to get to defend our freedoms with it. Science is not as easy to justify.

It should be. Right now, many technological advances come to the private sector via the military. Tools like global positioning systems, which are revolutionizing the way cornfields are managed, came through military avenues.

Imagine the consumer benefits if space-based technology eliminated the military middle man and worked for the direct benefit of consumers. It would be a great way to streamline technology development. A billion dollars can hardly turn the lights on at the Pentagon, but would make a huge difference at NASA.

It wouldn’t have to result in job cuts for military contractors, either. Instead of designing bombers, a contractor could design an aircraft capable of piggybacking a space vehicle high into the atmosphere from a horizontal takeoff.

A new focus on space would yield psychological benefits as well. Instead of using the nation’s common resources to build up weapons in a paranoia-fueled frenzy, Americans could regain the pride of the first moon walk.

The space idea is very feasible. We could go to Mars. We could go back to the moon. We could build a space station on the moon!

It is very exciting, and it is already technologically feasible. We just need to reprioritize a small portion of defense money to this cause.

To continue on the same wavelength, it would be even better to divert the military money to improve our crumbling bridges and roads, to expand the Internet, to get more computers in the schools or to boost medical research.

However, it seems we will be building hog confinement operations on the moon before such domestic spending could ever come to pass. The government will not alienate the huge contractors that the military industrial complex has created and nurtured.

Space is a great way for America to move past the Cold War and into a future that can give Americans jobs, pride and technological advances. The nation’s defense will not be compromised.

No one will have to lose.

Marty Helle is senior in English and journalism from Lyle, Minnesota. He is the editor in chief of the Daily.