I think it's as simple as the fact that there's a much more embedded and longer running social norm that the government should be willing to spend a lot of mone

I think it's as simple as the fact that there's a much more embedded and longer running social norm that the government should be willing to spend a lot of money for the sake of national defense. Because of this norm people see the spending as justified. The norm of the government being a major contributor to science is more recent and not as deeply embedded in people's minds. So it seems more frivolous.