Agreed--my suggestion isn't to take more risk, but to highlight the current very high risk that NASA is already taking. Both Starliner and Dragon have a loss-of-crew risk of at least 1 in 500. That is unbelievably high, and I think NASA could drive interest in the space program if they (appropriately) highlighted that risk.
Considering NASA's budget and project list are at the whim of Congress, making the US government look bad is something they select against.