The new deal will be more akin to the barnstorming era of aviation, when mad flyboys made daredevil cross-country runs in rickety biplanes. It's about opening up the frontiers of space for humans. If we don't do that, if we just retire into ourselves and concentrate on balancing a budget and providing health insurance for all, then we've turned our back on our own greatness. Beyond this vision is the belief that the world will end if people do not find new places to colonize. In the January-February issue of The Futurist, author B. Alexander Howerton proposes a big space program on economic and ecological grounds.
Conservation is a noble cause, but it is ultimately a losing proposition.
We merely delay the inevitable day of our own destruction. Howerton isn't as far out as one might presume. Put simply, there are no markets until the cost of launching comes down, and there'll be no significant cost reductions until the economies of scale available with vast markets are realized. The bill is awaiting action in a House subcommittee. The bill is not the show-stopper of Gingrich's Contract With America, but it's on the same track.