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 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 795, November 2, 2014 The current order of things that all of us in this room variously deplore is nothing but a new puritanism for the twenty first century.
Send Letters to editor@ncc-1776.org
Re: "The High Frontier: My Cup of Tea" by Jeff Fullerton I see a lot of "Congress must" and "NASA shall" there. Kind of odd for a "Taxed Enough Already" group. And I think they're missing part of the point of government regulation of alllegedly private space travel. The government is not simply inept at regulating or encouraging space access. That isn't something you can "reform". The government is doing reasonably well at its real goal which is the prevention and elimination of private space access; for various reasons, starting with, "Anything that can loft a satellite can boost a warhead." The only ineptitude displayed in that area is that they haven't succeeded in totally stamping out what they haven't coopted. Yet. (NASA's project management competence is another issue, which can be best fixed by eliminating NASA.) Personally, I think I'd prefer the Net Assets approach. Carl "Bear" Bussjaeger
Jeff Fullerton replied: Carl I'm guessing this is the pet issue trap. Because the government has or can get the resources they need for them. It's also why a lot of otherwise decent professional people are willing to accept and go along with Big Government in general. And then there was also the matter of Newt Gingrich who sponsored a bill to apply US law to space colonies! But I found something even worse. As a long time space enthusiast I have been aware that the utopian minded among the progressives have been at it much longer—long before there was ever a Tea Party movement. And after being chastised by the rest of the left—they are still at it. http://futurehumanevolution.com/interstellar-space-colonization-intro But they too contradict themselves. The very policies called for are are everything we would forsake Earth in order to escape. And they are likely to be used in the fashion of useful idiots in the end. Will have to do a follow up article. Jeff Fullerton
Carl Bussjaeger replied: Jeff,
Hence the "IRS Memorial Crater" on Pallas (Bargaining Position).
Great grapping Ghu. Reading that was like a bad episode of Star Drek—The Next Generation. I had to look twice at the byline to be sure it wasn't "Wesley Crusher". (It was also an excellent example of someone who put down the thesaurus and write normally.) Carl "Bear" Bussjaeger
Jeff Fullerton replied: A bad Star Trek episode? I figured out that people who get into it so deeply were among those in SF fandom who mistakenly projected their utopian hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow on the progressive movement in the last century going into this one. Kind of like many projected their hopes and dreams on Obama. A good laugh for crunch time getting ponds drained and netted for winter! I will have to look some of that up later this week when I have time. This Anarchy Belt—I know it must have something to do with asteroids! Jeff Fullerton
Carl Bussjaeger replied:
Net Assets was my first novel, about a private space launch company. Bargaining Position was the sequel, about 30 years later, when a substantial asteroid belt presence has been established (although BP itself mostly takes place in Jupiter's Trojan asteroids). The Anarchy Belt is a collection of some two dozen short stories, about half of which take place in the NA/BP universe bridging the gap between the two novels. Carl "Bear" Bussjaeger
[ I do most highly recommend Mr. Bussjaeger's novels. In addition to being whacking good yarns, they are full of ideas to think about. This is a good thing.—Editor ]
Hmmm.... In the course of a week, first the OSC Antares resupply rocket explodes, then Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two crashes and burns. It makes one wonder if the powers-that-be are getting tired of the competition,or something. Bob Gibson
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