Friday, November 03, 2006

Frontiers Beyond the Reach of Tyrants

I think that a lot of government sympathizers feel the way they do because they believe there are some projects too large for individuals (or non-governmental groups of individuals) to undertake. The space programs come to mind. To my way of thinking, government has bungled space programs terribly, trapping us on earth for the foreseeable future. I think if government had stayed out of it, and also not regulated the exploration of space to death, we would probably have large numbers of humans living off-world now. Government representatives went to the moon almost 40 years ago .... and then dropped the ball. Would private space companies have done this? Not unless it proved to be a waste of effort. I don't think space exploration is a waste of effort. Humans need a frontier. This is the first time in human history that we don't have a frontier that ordinary people can escape to. No place remains out of the reach of government. Make no mistake, that is what frontiers are all about, even if the foolish settlers usually rush to set up a new government to molest them. Today, even if the average person sells everything they own, they will not have enough money for an orbital trip; no one to fly them other than government; and no destination is available. This is a condition that cannot continue. There are places on earth that could be frontiers, if government were banished. That isn't likely. Space is the only option that is left for those of us who don't buy into the lie that we "need government".