BILLIONAIRES IN SPACE!

 

I make no apologies for it.

It's true.  I am an independent progressive.  I believe that we as a people, and our government as our agents (ideally, WE THE PEOPLE are the government), should be doing everything we can to alleviate poverty, end discrimination, and ensure equal opportunity.  I believe in Medicare For All, the Green New Deal, and a living minimum wage.

But I also believe, with all my heart and soul, in the importance of space exploration.  I want a station on the Moon.  I want us to go to Mars.  I want us to find out about Europa and Titan and any planet or moon where life may exist.  I love the space program.

So, when I hear my fellow liberals whine about how much the space program costs and how they think we should spend that money improving things here on Earth, it makes me a little verklempt. Of course, sometimes conservatives will make their own arguments against it, using the same logic, but maybe different programs should be supported (or just keep the money for themselves).

What a croc.

It's not either/or.  The space program has never been all that expensive, given the federal budget as a whole.  At its very height, during the space race of the 60s, NASA's budget was 4.41% of the Federal Budget.  More current numbers show it at 1/2 of 1%.*  If NASA's budget was zero, it wouldn't really solve a damn thing.  So, 1) it ain't enough to reallocate to make a dent, and 2) you really think Republicans and corporate Democrats are going to see it as a savings and spend it on helping people?  They are more likely to spend it on the Pentagon or reduce the federal budget.

Also, the benefits from the space program have been huge.  A simple google search displays articles that talk about dozens of inventions and technologies we have due to the space program.  Advances in computer technology alone justify its cost.  They even include things like memory foam, invisible braces for teeth, and tap water filters.  The list goes on and on.  Check these out for yourself.

I love the alternate history series, For All Mankind (color editing done by my son, Greg), and its depiction of a faster space race, spurred on by the Russians being first to land on the moon. Another fascinating variation on history is that the Russians were the first to have a woman walk on the Moon, spurring Americans to do the same, and the subsequent equality in the astronaut core accelerating greater equality in the US. It took us a little longer, but in the 80s and 90s, we broadened out to include the full range of Americans.

So, yeah, I am an unapologetic supporter of the space program.

That does not mean I am a supporter of Trump's idiotic Space Force,  which is just a ham-handed militarization of space, WHICH WE DO NOT NEED.

And that brings us to...

👉BILLIONAIRES IN SPACE!👈

I've read science fiction all my life (okay, from about 6 years old), and I am aware of the heavy influence that libertarian philosophy has on many major writers, particularly in the 40s and 50s. For example, there are many science fiction stories where the super-rich millionaire/billionaire would take the reins of the space program and do it themselves because...GOVERNMENT SUCKED.

What a croc.

How in the world can the space program be better if it is done for the betterment of one, instead of in the interests of all?  How is it better if the profit from all the innovations and advancements is concentrated in the hands of the mega-wealthy?

Yes.  I understand.  Many investments started out dominated by the wealthy.  Airplanes were toys of the rich until someone figured out how much money could be made with passenger travel.  Of course, any major innovation is often facilitated with government support and money.  No billionaire ever did it by himself.  Government builds them spaceports and other support.

And then there are the huge tax breaks billionaires receive for this and other reasons.

Do I want billionaires in space?  I would rather it be we the people.

There is a chance that space tourist travel will be popular and affordable, based on the groundwork being laid by Branson, Bezos, and Musk. However, it is even more possible that they will use this as a means to become wealthier - hell, maybe even trillionaires.

If they want to play at this, fine.  But first - 

PAY YOUR DAMN FAIR SHARE OF TAXES

PAY YOUR WORKERS A LIVING WAGE

STOP BEHAVING LIKE AYN RAND WANNABES

Most importantly, let's get our WE THE PEOPLE space program back on track.  Let's get a station on the moon.  Let's have manned missions to Mars.  Let's land something on Europa that can take pictures, sample soil, bring back information.  

Let's boldly go where no man has gone before!

* budget numbers are from federal budget numbers accumulated by Datablog.

My Europa Part 5

5

“Who leaked it?” bellowed Reynolds, pacing his office furiously.  “What damn mouthy pipsqueak slipped the mickey and tumbled his flaccid brain out to the press?  I’ll string the little melba beast up by his balls, I swear to Christ!”  The only others present in the Congressperson’s office was Thaddeus Wright, the sub-committee’s legal counsel, standing by a bookshelf filled with seldom read tomes, and Congressperson Barista, who sat sprawled on a sofa.

“Now, Dabney, you really didn’t think something like this could be kept quiet, did you?” said Barista, as if trying to explain the basic facts of life to a toddler.  “There’s some form of life outside Earth.  That’s big news.  How long did you think it would be before that came out?”

“It had to be that little weasel, Staninski.  That son of a bitch can’t keep quiet about anything!”  Arnold Staninski was a Communist Party representative from California, and the only one on the sub-committee.  Staninski was a solid, stocky man, with a crewcut, and looked more like a dock worker than a Leninesque radical.  He had a habit of blowing up hearings, revealing stuff he shouldn’t and then apologizing later that he didn’t understand that it was supposed to be kept confidential.

“That doesn’t explain the leaked footage that came shortly after the initial news broke,” piped in Thaddeus.  “That couldn’t have come from us.  That had to have been leaked by someone at NASA or the military.”

“So?” roared Reynolds. “That just means one of their little crappers leaked it, either on their own, or more likely, at Staninski’s urging.”  Reynolds pointed a crooked finger at Barista.  “I told you Progressives not to back letting the Communists form a party.  Y’all just did it to make yourselves look good by contrast, and now we is all paying the price!”

“Calm down, Dabney,” soothed Barista.  “It’s not going to do you or us any good to have a stroke about it.  They met the criteria to form a party.  It’s not us.  It’s the rules we all agreed upon.  And look, they’re the smallest party in Congress.  Seriously, nine members out of almost sixteen hundred?”

“Yeah, and it only takes one of them Trotsky pinkos to frack up the works!” Dabney challenged.

“So the Europian monster is out of the bag,” replied Barista, coming out of his slump and sitting up straight.  “Big deal.  Maybe the public has a right to know.  These are momentous issues and they have a right to participate in the decision.”

“No doubt they do,” replied Thaddeus Wright, going over to Congressperson Reynolds and putting in his hand on his shoulder. Dabney visibly relaxed and took a seat in a wingback chair opposite the sofa.  “From the polling I’ve seen, about a third of the people want us to fly up there right now with a manned scientific mission and make contact.”

“Yeah, well, this ain’t likely to be E.T.  or Mork, ya know.  It’s likely to try to eat everybody, ship and all,” complained Reynolds.

“We don’t know that,” said Barista.  “All that we know for sure is that it collided with the ship in such a way that knocked out communications.  We don’t know anything beyond that.”

“Bullcrap!  I think it ate it!” scoffed Reynolds.

Thaddeus reasserted himself, trying to take back control of the conversation.  “Please let me finish, gentleman. Then we can descend back to caterwauling.”  Barista and Reynold nodded their agreement to quiet down, and Thaddeus continued.  “Another third wants us to send another unmanned probe, but with scientific equipment specifically designed for better analysis. The rest are split between doing nothing, or going there with a full military force and exterminate what’s ever up there, and there’s even about five percent that want us to just go there and blow the whole moon up.  And yes, there’s even about 3 percent who think the whole thing is a hoax.”

“New Conservative Party extremists, no doubt,” smirked Barista.

“I’m leaning towards a mixed mission.  Some scientists, but mostly military people.  We have to be prepared to kick this thing’s ass if we have to,” said Reynolds.

Barista raised his hand, as if he were in a classroom, and then began to answer. “You know, I agree that we need a manned mission, but I don’t understand why it has to be so heavily militarized.  I mean, if aliens come to Earth, descending into our oceans, would they feel obligated to blast away a whale if it came near?  This most likely isn’t a sentient creature.  It’s probably some animal of some kind.  We invaded its territory. We just have to come in with more common sense and restraint.  I think over spending on the military aspect is a waste.”

Reynolds was infuriated. “Forget the beasty that ate the Nautilus IV!  What the hell was that green stick bug alien?  The damn thing had some kind of ghastly face!  Now that coulda been, what did you say?  Sentient?  Yeah, it could have been sentient!  It coulda been directing the monster to consume the ship!”

“That’s ridiculous!’ Barista responded, getting up off the sofa.

“Maybe,” replied Reynolds.  “But it’s a ridiculousness believed by the Sub-committee chairman and Democratic Party House Minority Whip.  So I got the toys, and I usually get my way.”

“Not without the Progressive Party, you don’t.  It’s almost impossible to get things through Congress without our support!” asserted Barista.

“Damn, boy!  Haven’t you polled your own members?  They’re all over the map on this!  How y’all gonna get together to force me to do anything?”

Dammit it all, Congressperson Alfredo Barista thought.  He’s right.  He’d had all kinds of opinions coming from Progressive members, everything except for blowing it up.  In a just a day of leaked news, everyone had scattered, worried more about their constituents than they were about the incredible scientific impact.  All the progress that had been made politically in the last decade, and still polls held sway for so many.

“Well, gentlemen,” Thaddeus Wright said, “it looks like we have a real important decision to make.  Let’s find out if this new, unwieldy Congress can actually function in a way that brings results.”

Barista realized that this was going to be a real challenge.  It wasn’t like minimum wage or the military budget, where each party knew where they stood, and how to make compromises to make something happen.  This was something completely new, and the public was all over the map.

Why, we might have to actually lead on this one!

Remember where you were?

I started to post on Facebook where I was during the moon landing, and then ask others where they were, when I realized the majority would either have no recollection or tell me they weren't even born yet. So I'm posting here instead!

The summer of '69 I was fourteen. My family owned a Holiday Rambler travel trailer, and we were at the Holiday Rambler national trailer rally at Eagle Rock Canyon in Wyoming. The area we were in was rocky and moon like, with no trees. We were were surrounded on all sides by mountains. There were people there from all areas of the United States. We had a little black and white TV that we put on a picnic table outside of our trailer, and watched it in that moon like setting, gazing in awe with all these people from everywhere, everybody participating in the magic of that moment. It was one of the most spiritual, impactful experiences of my life.

Please feel free to post your experience, on this or other important moments in time when you realized how connected you were to the world and universe at large.