{"id":494,"date":"2006-10-05T03:33:49","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T07:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=494"},"modified":"2018-08-20T15:01:14","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T19:01:14","slug":"thursday-october-5-2006-conservatism-enemy-of-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=494","title":{"rendered":"Thursday, October 5, 2006 \u2014 The Great Abandonment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes\u00adter\u00adday (Oct.4), Tim Kyger, life-long friend and expert on space pol\u00adi\u00adcy, wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>49 years ago today, the very first thing of any sort was put into Earth orbit by we puny humans. The begin\u00adning of a new age; a break\u00adpoint in history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Next year will be the half-cen\u00adtu\u00adry mark since the begin\u00adning of space explo\u00adration. While it began with a Sovi\u00adet project, and there have been impor\u00adtant con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtions to it in sev\u00ader\u00adal coun\u00adtries, the Unit\u00aded States put the most effort into explor\u00ading space. Some peo\u00adple, myself includ\u00aded, con\u00adsid\u00ader the explo\u00adration of space to be a crit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly impor\u00adtant human activ\u00adi\u00adty, one which is con\u00adgru\u00adent with the respon\u00adsi\u00adble stew\u00adard\u00adship of the earth\u00ad\u2019s ecol\u00ado\u00adgy, respect for human rights, and the fos\u00adter\u00ading and cre\u00adation of the arts. To us, it is sad\u00adden\u00ading to con\u00adtem\u00adplate how lit\u00adtle has been accom\u00adplished in that half cen\u00adtu\u00adry, com\u00adpared to what could have been accomplished.<\/span><\/p>\n

There has been some use\u00adful explo\u00adration of the solar sys\u00adtem by robot probes, and there has been the accu\u00admu\u00adla\u00adtion of expe\u00adri\u00adence in close-to-earth human space activ\u00adi\u00adty. A series of human trips to the Moon end\u00aded long ago, and have not been repeat\u00aded. Those of us who grew up dream\u00ading of space had expect\u00aded that, by now, we would have a per\u00adma\u00adnent lunar base. Amer\u00adi\u00adcans could have explored the entire solar sys\u00adtem with a tiny frac\u00adtion of the mon\u00adey they threw away on self-destruc\u00adtive war and state-subidized cor\u00adpo\u00adrate feu\u00addal\u00adism. The fact that they have not done so, bespeaks a moral fail\u00adure that runs very, very deep.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of WWII<\/span>, the Unit\u00aded States emerged as the rich\u00adest, most tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly advanced soci\u00adety on earth, as well as one that pro\u00adduced a high stan\u00addard of liv\u00ading for the ordi\u00adnary cit\u00adi\u00adzen. Space explo\u00adration was a nat\u00adur\u00adal out\u00adgrowth of its exu\u00adber\u00adant vital\u00adi\u00adty. The cost, in rela\u00adtion to its gigan\u00adtic and pro\u00adduc\u00adtive econ\u00ado\u00admy, was triv\u00adial. The tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal and spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal pay\u00adoff was well worth the effort. Amer\u00adi\u00adcans were crown\u00ading their pros\u00adper\u00adi\u00adty with some\u00adthing that would ben\u00ade\u00adfit the human race as a whole.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, the Unit\u00aded States is in debt up to its ears. It still retains a cer\u00adtain amount of eco\u00adnom\u00adic cre\u00adativ\u00adi\u00adty (inven\u00adtions and new prod\u00aducts and ser\u00advices still flow from its enter\u00adpris\u00ades), and it still pos\u00adsess\u00ades an impres\u00adsive inher\u00adit\u00aded infra\u00adstruc\u00adture. But the lev\u00adel of debt is so gigan\u00adtic that no amount of eco\u00adnom\u00adic activ\u00adi\u00adty can ever pay it off. The cred\u00adi\u00adtors are, chiefly, the Chi\u00adnese Com\u00admu\u00adnist Par\u00adty and var\u00adi\u00adous dis\u00adgust\u00ading dic\u00adta\u00adtors and oil-rich kings and princes \u2014- the scum of the earth. It is Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives who are pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly respon\u00adsi\u00adble for trans\u00adfer\u00adring most of America\u2019s wealth to kings and Com\u00admu\u00adnist thugs. And it is Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives who are pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly respon\u00adsi\u00adble for the self-destruc\u00adtive wars, sub\u00adsi\u00addized state econ\u00ado\u00admy, and colos\u00adsal eco\u00adnom\u00adic cor\u00adrup\u00adtion that have turned their coun\u00adtry from an eco\u00adnom\u00adic won\u00adder to an indebt\u00aded invalid.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes\u00adter\u00adday (Oct.4), Tim Kyger, life-long friend and expert on space pol\u00adi\u00adcy, wrote: \u201c49 years ago today, the very first thing of any sort was put into Earth orbit by we puny humans. The begin\u00adning of a new age; a break\u00adpoint in \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-au-blog-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9360,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions\/9360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}