In fact the solution to that problem is simple enough, although politically difficult: we simply must declare large parts of our life off-limits, outside the jurisdiction of government. It is unlikely that we can restrain government power once it is admitted anywhere, but we can prevent it from getting there in the first place. The issue of "Federal Aid to Education" was fought over jurisdiction. The battle was lost, Federal Aid came in, and the result was a school system we would go to war to overthrow if we could only figure out who the enemy is.
It isn't lack of resources.
It was fashionable, in the '50s, to speak of the "Affluent Society." John Kenneth Galbraith made his reputation writing about the coming era of plenty, in which the problems of production would all be solved, so that it only remained to see to equitable distribution of the wealth which would inevitably increase year by year. He saw that era as already upon us.
It didn't quite work that way, and within two decades an American President would tell us of the end of the dream and the era of limits; of national malaise. Oddly enough, John Kenneth Galbraith's reputation suffered not a whit from that, and he remained popular with the Carter Administration. Such are the ways of economists.
In fact, though, Galbraith was more right than Carter and the doomsayers. I doubt that the world will ever come to the point where everyone can have everything, but certainly the era of limits is very nearly over. Energy applied to resources with ingenuity equals production. There are no human economic problems that can't be solved, given plentiful energy and cheap raw materials. Food production is largely a function of fertilizer, and nitrogen fixation is easy if you have electricity. Pollution is merely an energy problem: electric automobiles can banish smog, provided we have the power to run the cars on. And for that matter, given sufficient energy, any pollutants can be taken apart to their constituent elements.
Both energy and raw materials await us in space. One nickle-iron asteroid contains more metals than have been refined since the beginning of civilization. There are thousands of such asteroids. We needn't go even that far. The lunar regolith is about 90 percent useful, and it's already conveniently ground into a fine powder. Meanwhile, the sun pours out a kilowatt per square meter on Earth and Moon alike. Once we have routine access to the space environment, the Affluent Era can begin in reality.
Getting there isn't that hard, or won't be if we don't depend on government, and bureaucracy, and the long, slow, careful "man rating" system NASA uses.
Nineteen eighty-six was a fateful year: it began with the Challenger disaster, which shows that the old ways were ended forever. We are now told that it will take NASA years to fix the shuttle: longer to design O rings than it took to design and build the infinitely more complex bombers and fighters of World War Two.
The year ended with Voyager: with Jeana Yaeger and Dick Rutan and their volunteer help and corporate supporters. No more than a hundred times their effort would plant a permanent colony on the Moon! It was fitting that 1986 ended with Dick Rutan walking around Voyager and saying, "See what free men can do."
That should always be the answer of republic to empire.
See what free men can do.
THE END
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Imperial Stars 2-Republic and Empire
Table of Contents
Republic and Empire
Jerry Pournelle
Editor's Introduction To:
Outward Bound
Norman Spinrad
Outward Bound
Norman Spinrad
Editor's Introduction To:
In The Realm Of The Heart, In The World Of The Knife
Wayne Wightman
In The Realm Of The Heart, In The World Of The Knife
Wayne Wightman
Editor's Introduction To:
Litany For Dictatorships
Stephen Vincent Benet
Litany For Dictatorships
Stephen Vincent Benet
Editor's Introduction To:
Doing Well While Doing Good
Hayford Pierce
Doing Well While Doing Good
Hayford Pierce
Editor's Introduction To:
The Last Department
Rudyard Kipling
The Last Department
Rudyard Kipling
Editor's Introduction To:
Constitution For Utopia
John W. Campbell, Jr.
Constitution
John W. Campbell, Jr.
Editor's Introduction To:
Minor Ingredient
Eric Frank Russell
Minor Ingredient
Eric Frank Russell
Editor's Introduction To:
The Turning Wheel
Philip K. Dick
The Turning Wheel
Philip K. Dick
Editor's Introduction To:
Reactionary Utopias
Gregory Benford
Reactionary Utopias
Gregory Benford
Editor's Introduction To:
These Shall Not Be Lost
E. B. Cole
These Shall Not Be Lost
E. B. COLE
Editor's Introduction To:
Data Vs. Evidence In The Voodoo Sciences
Jerry E. Pournelle, Ph.D
Data Vs. Evidence In The Voodoo Sciences
Jerry Pournelle
Editor's Introduction To:
Nicaragua: A Speech To My Former Comrades On The Left
David Horowitz
Nicaragua: A Speech To My Former Comrades On The Left
David Horowitz
Editor's Introduction To:
The Gods Of The Copybook Headings
Rudyard Kipling
The Gods Of The Copybook Headings
Rudyard Kipling
Editor's Introduction To:
Custom Fitting
James White
Custom Fitting
James White
Editor's Introduction To:
Conquest By Default
Vernor Vinge
Conquest By Default
Vernor Vinge
Editor's Introduction To:
The Skills Of Xanadu
Theodore Sturgeon
The Skills Of Xanadu
Theodore Sturgeon
Editor's Introduction To:
Into The Sunset
D. C. Poyer
Into The Sunset
D. C. Poyer
Editor's Introduction To:
Shipwright
Donald Kingsbury
Shipwright
Donald Kingsbury
Empire And Republic: Crisis And Future
Jerry E. Pournelle, Ph.D.
Imperial Stars 2-Republic and Empire Page 43
