Let's hope Bush is thinking differently

[rfmcdonald]

More lunacy from Adam Yoshida, this time literally so:

More to the point, space is the key to the American future. Whoever owns the stars will be the master of all humanity. No other nation, no other civilization, or other race can be allowed to take his honor. Space must be American just as Virginia or Colorado is American. It is our collective destiny, our birthright.

[...]

Some will ridicule those who dream of ‘Space Empire’ or speak of the future colonization of the Moon and Mars. Yet these will be the realities of the future, whether we are willing to accept them or not. The control and colonization of space will not only render humanity less vulnerable to the random chances of fate (an asteroid strike, for example) but it will also forever forestall the rise of another great power upon the Earth.

Think about it for a moment. A single Star Cruiser, maneuvered into position, could drop dozens of weapons onto a target seconds after launch. Defending against such an attack, short of the use of other space vessels, would be essentially impossible. A handful of such ships could, if necessary, wipe an entire nation off the face of the Earth. In the face of such power, most rational nations would have no choice but to accept permanent American world rule.

[...]

It might also be worth pointing out that, if aliens do exist, there is little reason to assume that they will be, as most have postulated, more advanced than we are. There is an equally good reason to believe that they will be less advanced. Would it not be prudent then to be prepared to restrict various alien races to the surface of their home planets?

[...]

It may even be that we will find alien races that will have to be destroyed, lest they pose a threat, or that we will find races of servile aliens which might prove useful to us in other ways. I don’t know if we will, and we won’t know unless we try.