How exactly could we have space exploration/moon landings without government?

[jbuttell]

Dude, how in the hell can you expect to live in a country where you agree with EVERYTHING the government does? How the fuck does a government please 300+ million people? Do we have annual questionnaires seeing what kind of tax should be placed upon you if any? Do you people live in reality? Have you read the Constitution? Congress has the power to levy taxes. Does it say anywhere that you have to agree with it?? NO! That's why you ELECT the people who agree with your anti-tax policies, or you can drag your ass into the courthouse and RUN for office.

It's funny, you all most likely hate democracies and support a republic or anarchy (which is just moronic), yet you say you should have a voice in determining whether or not taxes should be collected on you for certain programs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that democracy itself??? Where everybody's voice is equal, where everybody gets to choose what they want?? Quit bitching about taxes, I'm really tired of it. I understand if you're against the income tax and want lower taxes--I'm with yah--but to post crap saying 'You can't tax me if I don't agree with it' is complete bullshit. You elect representatives that align themselves with your beliefs. If neither candidate espouses your platform, then here's an idea, RUN FOR OFFICE!

You anti-tax people are absolutely unbelievable. It's funny because most of you support a Republic, yet your explanation for not having taxes levied upon you suggests nothing less than Democracy. Hypocritical, moronic, and very unenlightening. I know you're trying to explore this supposedly intellectual and revolutionary view of government, but you just look like an idiot in the process. Move to Somalia if you don't want to be taxed and see how great it is.

Wow, Sorry Socialize_me, you've absolutely lost my attention now. You're picking a fight with the wrong people. "Anti-Tax" people? I have no idea why you're even here and supposedly supporting Ron Paul.

Yes, I'm very Anti-tax, specifically the Income Tax. Take it away and let's see how much money the government has left over to 'spend' on space projects unrelated to national defense. Oh right, they'll just tap into the fed and give us more inflationary tax.

Quit bitching about taxes...? So long as the government is collecting such large quantity of money from the people, it'll continue to grow in it's corruption. And please - give the Somalia reference a break, its really tired.

So long as the government can come to my house with armed police to demand taxes on my wages, I will speak against their efforts. Its wrong, no matter how you try to justfiy it.

 

[Truth Warrior]

Aggression is Wrong, by Robert LeFevre

 

[Andrew-Austin]

So long as the government can come to my house with armed police to demand taxes on my wages, I will speak against their efforts. Its wrong, no matter how you try to justfiy it.

But... but.. the founders! They surely would have been for tax funded space travel!

 

[Drknows]

Yes, I knew Virgin was doing this, but none of it would have been accomplished without prior government models. The private sector did not just jump right in and start designing this stuff--they've waited 40+ years for the government to test, design, and launch the programs and research. Had the Government not have done anything with space, none of these companies would have such programs. This is evidence enough that even with privatization, some tasks are simply too large without government performing them like the military and space travel.

Damn why are you in such a hurry? This is why the Chinese will out pace us in the future. One of their monetary policy guys said it best when talking about becoming the worlds reserve currency.... it will be "more like the gentle flow of a river than the big waves of the ocean"

At the rate we spend money the Chinese will be putting our Mars Exploration Rovers in a space museum.



Also Do you think its ok to take money from that waiter who can barely get by just so you can see pretty pictures of mars?

Do you think we spend enough on space exploration? Should we spend more so we can move ahead faster? How about you donate your whole paycheck? Im sure if we spent our whole budget on space we could send trillions more into a black hole. Most of that technology we spent billions on is already out dated.

Yes some parts of the space program are useful but the private sector is moving faster everyday. Also amateur astronomers have technology that takes pictures just as good as hubble does now.

i wish i could find the site but this one guy is awesome. he has software that corrects the distortion from the atmosphere and you cant even tell his photos apart from hubble's.

 

[Truth Warrior]

I can do that too. Just copy Hubble pictures and call them mine. Not rocket science, to merely coin a phrase.

 

[RevolutionSD]

I'm anxious in being enlightened for this topic. I understand some quasi-space travel is going on privately, costing millions for individuals to take part in it, but how exactly would space travel work under privatization?? I mean, it's been almost 40 years since the government subsidized human landing on the moon...it's 2008 and we're just starting to get billionaires to fly a couple miles outside of our atmosphere. Who knows how long it will take for the private sector to adopt space travel to be as popular as going to Europe or Australia for vacation, but it seems as if it's very, very far off. Wasn't NASA a good thing??

Richard Branson is doing space travel in the private sector. Government HINDERS space exploration if anything.

Forget about needing government for anything. It's a stupid idea that does not work no matter how many examples people come up with where we somehow "need" authoritarian sociopaths to point guns at people in order to get things done.

 

[Revolution9]

No assclown, you were continually replying with ad hominems without addressing any thing about what was being addressed; out of control spending on the military. And then you brought in Aliens as a reason to support NASA'a budget. To many fiction books I guess. Up the meds and go get help.

Typical 101 level response. You have still failed mightily to explain the Watson videos. If they ain't our they are somebody's. If they are somebody's besides ours then i suggest that they constitute a grave national defense threat and have to be dealt with as far as determining where they come from. I suggest you get your dollar store binoculars out and futz with you CB radio to see if you can get a lock on them.

I don;t read fiction. I get my news from government reports from South American countries, police reports and disclosures such as that recently released by the French government. I presume you count the fu flier reports from USAF pilots alot of bogus crap from clowns who read too much scifi.. Which..if you do shows precisely where your miniscule mindset get generated from. I am not impressed with your lack of knowledge rhetoric.

hth
Randy

 

[powerofreason]

Where'd you go socialize_me? The truth must've scared your commie ass off eh?

 

[constituent]

who cares?

 

[free.alive]

I don't have the link, but even statist Gingrich could conceive of defunding NASA and turning the reins over to the market.

 

[BagOfEyebrows]

Actually, what NASA had was a PR program that went around to captive (and sometimes voluntary) audiences of impressionable people... where they spouted all kinds of BS about how all of their "innovations" had helped mankind. (Reality is a bit different from NASA PR -- see Tang, Velcro & Integrated Circuits discussed above).

There was very little about NASA's program that would truly qualify it as "educational" -- it was more in the vein of the flash & bang "experiments" done by science teachers to "excite" their students. Such things make a lot of smoke and noise, and perhaps even make an impression on students -- but they have all of the value of a "Diet Coke & Mentos" video -- and sadly, they teach virtually NOTHING about science.

As to NASA being supposedly "generous" with it's patents -- basically they LIED about that one as well.

The reality is that majority of any "innovations" that occur are in fact designed at and patented by private contractors. But, unfortunately, in the remaining cases, where NASA employed engineers do design something new, NASA itself DOES take out patents, and recently (in an attempt to gain funds, albeit a measly amount that probably didn't even cover the legal costs) auctioned off the rights to many of them.

(Now, since NASA is a taxpayer funded government institution it is sometimes argued that technically they should not even be eligible for patents, and that if they ARE issued regardless, then such inventions should be in the public domain since the public has already paid for their development; and should not have to pay yet another "premium" for products based on them.)

excellent post.

 

[Bodhi]

Why does this thread now only have one star? It is a valid question.

 

[jbuttell]

Why does this thread now only have one star? It is a valid question.

Yes, the question was fair - the subsequent arguments were less interesting.